Awaken: Book 2: Bonds
by Inferno 54
Summary: This is the continueation of Awaken Book of Beginnings. The trio is introduced to Awaken, and face new challanges, by the orginization they joined! Can they survive the initiation? And Robert Will have to make a choice that may decide the fate of everyone
1. Chapter 11, Bonds of the Past

(A.N.) Holy crap where have I been? I said a month or so, and here we are, almost 4 months later! Well anyway, welcome to the return of Awaken. Chapter 12 finnaly was completed, so I'll post that the week after next! I still have to edit it! Since I've spent over a month writing chapter 12 alone, this chapter didn't get a whole lot of attention, so PM or review any mistakes you catch, and I'll get right to it! Please Review, so I can see what you all like and dislike! Enjoy. Also, Catagory changed to misc books! No more Mythology. For those of you who haven't read Awaken: Book of Beginnings, I suggest you do that to avoid confusing yourself. This is an original series consisting of **only** OC's, but is using inspiration and themes ofother books, games, and anime, such as One Piece, Naruto, The Godfather series, Kingdom Hearts ect. So Without further introduction...

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 11: Bonds of the Past

_(Recap- Awaken: Book of Beginnings –_

_Tyson Balthen, a young boy, along with his three friends, Devante Dickerson, Robert Sodawasser, and Allyvia Fogarty, narrowly escape death when their government shows a darker side of itself, and unleashes an attack on their peaceful town of Dalthesan. All families in residency were slaughtered, and it's unknown if Tyson's older brother, Dexter, who had left earlier in the day to join peace keeping forces, is still alive. Allyvia escapes the carnage with her family, and leave the trio to themselves, as they hide and wait out the nightmare._

_Tyson, who had split off from the other two to find his family, found himself hiding in a shack behind his home, and watched as his town was destroyed. After the main forces had efficiently killed off the majority of people in his life, they left, but a straggler remained to approach the shack so he could raid it for goods, only to find himself in Tyson's mercy. The boy interrogated the soldier to the extent of finding out that the government was actually run by a shadow organization known as The Dictation, and was lead by a mysterious figure known only as Leader. Tyson then murdered the man, and ran to a rendezvous point, only to find some shady characters hiding in the underbrush. They identified themselves as an enemy force to The Dictation, Awaken. After a test of survival, the characters decided to allow Tyson to train alongside them, along with Devante and Robert, who had gained entry prior to Tyson's arrival._

_These people introduced themselves as Michael and Carol, and the ones who had tested Devante and Robert, as Mike and Grogan. They also met up with Michael's girlfriend, Angel, before being shipped off to a boot camp complex run by Mike and Carol, where they would remain until they were ready to move forward in their quest to achieve vengeance on those who destroyed their lives. After 1 year of intense training and discipline, the trio became a powerful force, and underwent a trial to become official members of Awaken. During this tournament, a Rival of theirs, Chad, turned out to be a spy for the Dictation, and the Trio, a new found friend, Rose, the rest of the complex, and the entire organization of Awaken, 27 members strong, found themselves under aerial attack._

_Thanks to Tyson's excellent leader ship, and the trio's newfound strengths, they easily annihilated the threat, with some help from Awaken members. Afterwards, the trio was awarded the position of becoming members themselves, which they accepted. And now, they are one step closer to exacting revenge.) Now, enjoy Book 2, Book of Bonds._

_In a dark ally in the middle of the night, a woman is being mugged by a local crook, as he threatens her with his pocket knife, she cries, and hands over her valuables, some family heirlooms, and some treasured jewels, all with sentimental value. Even with the bundle of the woman's possessions and hard earned cash, the thief is still not satisfied. He pointed to her hand; she resists giving over her wedding ring. As the thief begins to thrust his knife, a shadowy figure in the backgrounds intervenes, by throwing a shuriken, and knocking the knife beyond his reach. As the villain turned to see who interrupted his extortion, his neck is broken, and his body drops to the ground. The woman cowers in the corner from the even more intimidating man, she feels his gaze upon her. The man searched the robber thoroughly, and then approached her, as she squeezed her eyes, waiting for a fatal blow, she hears the sound of small things hitting the ground before her, she opens her eyes momentarily to see her gems having been returned to her, both figures were gone, and the only proof left of the encounter, was a card placed among her possessions. It read, AWAKEN- Mercenary Richard._

And now, three weeks later, here I am. Picking up the new recruits from the old complex in which I had graduated from 5 years ago with my friend Cory after 4 years of hard ass work. I had entered that complex at the age of 14, just like the new guys I believe, or maybe they were 15, I don't care much for details, Cory joined me a year later at 2 years my younger. But these newbie's, they entered after only a year, and we saw why, when the three of them nearly took down a whole fleet of carriers and warships from the enemy in a matter of minutes, despite their young age, and the advanced tactics that the Dictation showed.

The three guests of honor just happened to board my Hovermech. "So the heroes are on board?" I call out from the sound of the thrusters.

"Heroes? Us? You could call us that, but really we were just doing our duty and vengeance against the enemy." A boy with brown hair and sharp green eyes replied with a rather impressive broadsword on his back, while his friends tailed him and buckled in. "By the way, name's Tyson, and these are my friends and co-members…" He began.

"Devante." A large black boy introduced himself, he had a variety of weapons on him, but in the tournament, he mainly used elements, mostly fire, and quite impressively.

"And I'm Robert." The short red hair boy with an intimidating sniper rifle on his back called out.

"Right, Show off, Hot-head, and Gunslinger, correct?" Cory asks them, while preparing to take off. The kids for the first time notice the other member on board, we had 5 Hovermech's, 2 with 8members on it, 1 with 7 members, 1 personal one for only Michael and Carol, and then this one, with the five of us.

"That's us!" They laughed in unison, before engaging in a conversation about fond memories, intense workouts, and what's to come. I can't help the feeling of nostalgia wash over me, though it was five years, many missions, and an excessive amount of dead bodies ago, I remember those happy moments leaving the base with Cory clear as day.

"You kids know what you're in for?" Cory asks.

"Not really, from what we've gathered, some recon, some body guarding, some assassination, and possibly fighting Dictation members if the occasion arises." Robert answered. I was surprised the kids were that informed, then again, when they could gather WMD's in the middle of the desert powerful enough to destroy top of the line government ships, it wasn't that much of a shocker.

"Alright, you've got the gist of it, there'll be several other types of jobs, but before that, and you've got even more training." I yell back at them as we ascended.

Devante practically threw a fit. "Goddamnit! After all that, we have more crap to do before were official!" He complained.

"That's right, you have to do some practice missions, oh, and a small medical experiment." My friend informed them. Robert went pale at 'experiment.'

"From your cocky ass smirk, I assume it's not good." Tyson announced.

"You'll see, in time." I say as we hit a nice cruising speed for the northeast. "But first, you've got orientation, and consider those missions and 'experiment', as initiation."

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We noticed a severe change in course as the other Hovermech's disappeared into the deep blue of the sky ahead. "Hey, Richard, where are you taking us? The rest of the group is heading northeast, why have turned north?" I ask.

"Listen, Hot-head, you three have a bit of unfinished business." Cory stated as we began to descend into a nostalgic woods.

"N-no…" Tyson said, giving a flash of his long hidden soft side.

"You can't be serious." Robert was in shock.

"No way." My chest clenches in pain as I see the empty field that was once the only place I truly called home. Dalthesan was gone, the surrounding trees were still stained black from soot, the ruins were flattened, and plain of wooden crosses stood in our wake as we landed, and left our vehicle.

Tyson's first reaction as he touched land was falling to his knees, shaking, tears forming the corners of his eyes. This was the most vulnerable I'd ever seen him, and I could tell why. The front two graves belonged to his parents.

"We were barely able to mark the bodies with corresponding names, but we pulled it off. Michael sent the two of us in, along with a few other members for clean up. We had to release a few cleansing pellets into the air, The Dictation really did a number on you guys… We also had to demolish the old structures to make room for the graves, and the rest of the town was already reduced to ash." Cory said gravely.

"Take all the time you need. You won't be able to return for a while." Richard said. Robert and I nod, while Tyson had yet to move.

We split up to find our parents graves. It didn't take long; the population was barely over 60 citizens. I paid my final respects to my mom, and my siblings, almost emotionlessly, I didn't know why, but for some reason, I no longer cared for those who passed on, they were gone, and would prefer me celebrating their life, than mourning the past.

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I had returned from my parents graves to see Tyson still in the same spot, but now, a bushel of black roses lain on the graves of his parents, and he handed some to me.

"I had planted some white roses with Dexter last year for my parents anniversary… we placed the seeds deep in the woods where they wouldn't see them, it looks like the raining ash affected their pigments, and their seeds grew black roses instead of white." He said somberly.

"Thanks man… here, I'll take some to Devante, his family isn't buried far from mine." I said as I took the rest of the flowers from his hand.

I left Tyson where he stood, and delivered the black bundle to Devante. "They're from Tyson." Was all I said as I passed him on the way to my parents' graves.

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The thoughts in my head were spinning faster than I ever thought possible. Anger, hatred, sadness, remorse, confusion, worry, and most of all, a thirst for vengeance, far more powerful than my rational thought.

The sky had grown dark, and I began to notice that lights began shining ion the graves. It appeared Devante had found some flammable material to burn, and placed makeshift candles at the graves.

My two friends approached me. "Tyson, it's gotten late, are you ready to move on?" Robert asked me.

"Yeah, I'm done crying over this, it's time to strike back boys." I inform them as I stand. We walk back to the ship, and approach Cory and Richard. "We're ready."

As we take to the air in the dead of night, I look down at the graves, to see Devante had engraved the letter A, in the exact font the Awaken symbol was. We had marked our territory, and if any one were to dare intrude on this sacred land of ours, we would hunt them down.

"Dictation, I'm coming for you." I whisper as I drift into unconsciousness.

Awaken

(A.N.) I know, 4 months and I barely mannaged something over 2,000 words? Well Chapter 12 is over 6,000 words, so it will hopefully make up for it, despite the utter lack of action... Please Review! All reviews will get a responce, I'm friendly like that!


	2. Chapter 12, Bonds of Families

(A.N.) Well, I'm changing my update schedual a bit, since two weeks is too long, seeing as I already have everything throughch. 14 prepared, weekly updates went down the tube last time, I'm going by advice of one of my favorite author's, Love Robin, and i'll attempt to update every 10 days. Also, there is a poll on my profile, so please vote on my next side project, I think, I'll be reducing the deadline from August 15th to August 1st, since there's been no voters for the past 5 days. And now, please enjoy this overly long chapter which took me forever to write. I hate this chapter with a passion... So I don't mind any critism here. Anyway, please review to show me your thoughts. This chapter is 7,163 words long!

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 12: Bonds of Families

"_In the shadows, I hid, waiting for the target to show his face. After a long period of time, he emerged from his concubine's room. As he walks through his impressive cobblestone hall, towards my hidden position, the adrenaline in my veins begins pumping, the thrill before the kill. He turns the corner of his beautifully candle lit home for the last time, before he has time to register his surroundings, I have him strangled between the chains of my nunchaku. His gasp for breath increase in speed and desperation, as his heart slowly gives out from the loss of flowing blood. His carcass slumps and I push him out the nearby window, and let the body fall 5 stories to the unforgiving ground. Then, I silently creep and slip the envelope through the crease in the concubine's door. 'Mission success, alert the other's of their freedom- Awaken Merc- Cory'"_

We flew, somewhere deep in Michigan, into a large forest area, and before Tyson, Robert, or I knew it, the hovermech switched to auto pilot, and we were ejected into the lush area. We landed on some trees, and hopped branch to branch until we hit the ground, purely on instinct, and followed the other members through the trees and underbrush, before grouping up with the other members before an unimpressive hollow tree stump, at least ten feet tall and seemingly cut down by the forces of nature, easily at least 150 years old.

"Nice base of operations." I snort.

"You have no Idea…" Michael smirked, before jumping up and into the tree stump; we heard no thud, proving it to be far deeper than expected. Tyson immediately followed, wordlessly jumping higher than I thought possible, doing 3 back flips before landing into the tree stump opening, as the others went around back to the hidden door.

"Show off." I mutter, following the others. Robert looked at me as if I was insane, and ran up the stump, did a small handstand, and flipped himself in.

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Falling through the incredibly deep trunk was like exploring a world wonder, I had flipped myself down, and out into the center of the 10 meter wide trunk, a good three meters all around the circular tunnel was used for a spiral staircase, I passed the other members on my decent before landing in a pool, with a nice impact and splash. I swam to meet up with Tyson and Michael, and stood wait, dripping wet, with them, while the others descended the kilometer long drop. I was truly amazed at the depth and size of the base, technical equipment lay around the large entry space, including impressive super computers, unbelievable T.V's and communication equipment. As the others caught up with us, Michael had them line for introductions before the three of us newbie's. List their name, past, and remove their helm were the instructions.

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"My name is Richard Arian; my back-story isn't much to brag about. I grew up in a rich family in London, so I got a majority of the things I wanted. I learned how to use my hand axe through chopping wood for camping when I was a child. When I learned about this whole secret war that had begun during WWIII, around 9 years ago, I became infuriated with the governments incompetence to contain a bunch terrorists. Then a year later, I learn that my father's latest source of income was arms dealing with what became the Dictation. I ran away, and after living in the streets of Los Angeles, where my parents wouldn't be able to find me out, as a dirt poor bum, Michael had tracked me down, his incredible snooping abilities led him to learning that the son of an arms dealer for his enemy had ran away from home, he figured that I may be willing to fight for the cause. Afterwards, I entered the Complex, did my 3 years of boot camp, entered Awaken, and did my missions for the past 5 years, what happened during those years are my business." I give my small bio and turn to my friend Cory, informing him that it's his turn to tell his life story.

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"My name is Cory Ripple, I ran away from home 8 years ago when I was living in Arizona, eventually finding myself at the door of the complex, half dead from heatstroke, I entered, befriended Richard, learned how to master the art of nunchaku, kicked some ass, took some names, and became a member. After that, it's the same as Richard, 5 years, missions, and my business." And he let the spotlight shine on someone else.

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A brunette woman stepped up, about 5'9, and looked in her early 20's "I'm Joel Ulsor; I joined 6 years ago, along with a group of people who I helped to destroy a Dictation outpost while in the compound. We had snuck out one night when we had hacked into the data phrase to find suspicious activity in the distance, so a group of 6, myself included, ran off, and found dictation setting up a base a few miles off, just at the edge of our radar. So we raided them, took a few lives, and sent them packing. But when we did it, we hadn't revealed we were Awaken, like you had. Before I had joined, I suffered a head injury, erasing my memory of everything before waking up in the desert, where I was spotted by a hovermech carrying the other future raiders to the compound; they picked me up and took me to the compound. There I learned how to defend myself with the very sai's I used to attack the Dictation base."

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A tall man, looking in his mid 30's dirty blond hair introduced himself. "I am Edward Urfa; I was one of the 6 who attacked the Dictation in the raid. I was a juggler for a circus, until a member of the government was insulted when a tightrope walker slipped and fell, causing a chain reaction where she startled the fire eater, and her set off the sprinkler system, soiling his suit, he immediately had our show shut down, and my boss was killed by dictation soldiers for it. I then began to look for a place where I could avenge my boss, who was a good friend of mine. I found Awaken talent seeker Grogan, and proved my stuff to him in the same way your friend Robert did, and was taken around the country as we picked up other recruits to be taken to the compound, then on the way we met Joel. After our famous raid, we were all decidedly ready for Membership, and shipped off here."

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An attractive blonde in a _very _provocative mini skirt and high heels that made her easily 6 ft. steeped up. "Names Chelsea Greenback, the only weapon I trust is my own fist, my hobbies are interrogation and boxing, make a move on me, and you won't move for a week, _guaranteed. _I was the first one to enter the base on the night of the raid, and the last one to leave. I personally gathered crucial information on the Dictation that night, and blackmailed Awaken into having all of us join." She stated coolly, before walking off, only to return momentarily with pictures of the raid in hand, most of it involved bloody pools with pathetic beaten men laying in them, further dying their black and red uniforms crimson. She then remained silent and allowed the next person to step up.

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Now, a rather innocent looking teen with a menacingly large hammer stepped up. "I'm Erica Whypes, I'm 15, I busted the door down during the raid, and wasn't afraid to break open a few skulls. This mallet weighs exactly half a ton. That's 1000 pounds, and I treat it as nothing. I entered the compound after Grogan picked me up after an intense street fight when I was a kid. He's been the father to me I've never had." She finished on a rather sweet note opposing her seemingly crude nature.

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A young man, with a small goatee was next to speak, he had short dark brown hair, he held a razor bladed shield. "I'm Benjamin Tills; I was the mastermind behind the raid, I planned the thing out, and recruited the other members. The point behind the raid was to protect the compound, and our fellow trainees, not to be recruited. But thanks to Chelsea, we got that added bonus." He smirked before gazing off into the distance.

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And a boy resembling Erica entered next. "I'm Eric Whypes; Erica failed to mention she wasn't the only person in that street fight to be picked up. I was the second in command of the raid. It was my equipment that hacked the mainframe and allowed us to discover the base. I use a bow staff-" Devante cut in.

"You fight with a stick."

Eric seemed to immediately become frustrated. "It's not a stick, it's a wooden pole used for combat-"

"A wooden pole is the definition of a stick." Devante intervened. Erica proceeded to slam her heavy mallet down on his foot, resulting in a rather loud yell, and then a nervously quiet Devante.

_Wish I had done that years ago._

"Please continue brother." Erica said politely.

"No I'm finished, thank you though." He chuckled.

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Next, a man whose face was so scarred with scratches and burns that his actual features were almost unseen. He was 6'4 and very shady, his head was shaved, revealing even more scares. "They call me Doan Rhydor. I got into some trouble some 11 years ago with the government, I had to go into hiding and change my name. Eventually a group of bounty hunters found me, and as you can see, gave me quite the facial reconstruction. If Angel hadn't appeared from the sky like she had, I would have died. I was about 34 at the time, so being saved by a girl as young as her was incredibly embarrassing, but I swallowed my pride, and allowed her to recruit me, after 3 years in the complex, I entered Awaken as an official member. I owe my life to Angel, so I'll keep working under her until I die."

"So what's your weapon?" Robert inquired. A closer look revealed he had no holster or blade anywhere on his person.

He smirked a twisted smile, and from his wrist came a claw like hook and wire, they had shot from a compartment in his gauntlets, and had quickly immobilized Robert by tying up is hands, and bringing him to a kneel on the ground. He retracted the claws and spun Robert around in the process, leaving him in a heap on the ground. "Any other questions?" Robert groaned in response. "Good, whose next?"

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Now a rather short man took center stage so to speak. Only 4'10 he had jet black short hair combed down, he wore goggles with dark green lenses; he was obviously some sort of scientist by the look of his white lab coat. "My names Steven O'Kelly, but everyone here calls me Doc, so let's go by that. I'm one of the 10 founding members that began this organization 15 years ago. I was Michael and Angels Science teacher when they were still high school kids. When they confronted me about the Dictations rising, I gladly joined their small group, and was the main developer of this base."

"Isn't a little weird taking orders from your old students?" Tyson inquired.

"Michael is different from my other students, class leader was an understatement. His determination was so inspiring to me, and his amount of Intel and involvement, it would have been downright stupid not to join. Good thing I did, about a week after we went underground, the entire town was 'investigated' by the new peacekeepers, and that entire school was burned down, _during class hours_ my room being in the middle of the building would have left me trapped and unable to escape."

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Next, a more rounded man stood up. He was 7'1, and had a sheathed long sword at his side. He had a blond buzz cut. "I'm George Jury-"

"Wait, _the_ George Jury? Commander of the 4th battalion during WWIII? You're the one who sent his men into an ambush that left you outnumbered 6 to 1 and left there without a single casualty on your side?" Robert asked in awe.

"Yep, that's me. After I found out about the governments true leader, I immediately began looking for a different militia, luckily, I found Carol first, she took me to the compound, and in just two years, I had made it all the way to a member. It was the fastest record before you three. I Hear Tyson had an unbreakable determination to drag you two with him to the top."

"You could say that" Tyson smirked.

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Next, a man wearing a monocle and holding a cane approached. He had graying hair, and a small bowler's hat. A small mustache made him look like the ideal monopolists.

"Someone's got money to waste." Devante muttered.

"Ahh! So you understand! I was one of the Original ten members, Fredrick Ribary; I was the one who funded the materials for this base. I was a friend of Doc's, so when he came to me about Michael's situation, I owed him a favor, he saved my life about 20 years ago, we're war veterans. Anyway, I was happy to help." He pulled at the top of his cane and a blade emerged. Said blade was now pointed at Devante's throat. "And I'm not a half bad swordsman, kid."

"Alright, so can do more than just toss your cash around, I get it!" He said in slight frustration of being outdone by two members in the past ten minutes.

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Next, a girl still wearing her helmet took stand. She had duel crescent blades sheathed at her side. She was obviously an adept assassin. She was about 5'9, and looked very agile. Her mask hid her features, and her age. A deep, seductive tone emitted from her as she spoke. "Trust me; you don't want to see the battle scars beneath this mask. I'm Patricia, joined around 9 years ago, after 3 years in the complex. Throughout my 9 years here, I've taken enough risks to seriously disfigure my face. On the rare occasions that I've slipped up on the job, and my positions been compromised, I've taken serious consequences. My advice to your kids, learn perfection, without it, you may die in a matter of seconds." One could almost hear the twisted smile in her voice.

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A woman walked up to us next and pushed Patricia away. "Stop teasing, Patty." She smirked.

"Morgan…" The intimidated girl growled.

"Ignore my twin sister, I'm Morgan Dolan, I'm the chef around here, my sister and I entered and left the complex together. Angel found us after our town was attacked when we were 12 years old. The dictation had dragged our neighbor into the streets and had him publicly executed for being a member of some resistance. After seeing someone so close to us being treated like an animal, we decided to oppose the government. On our way out of town, she approached us on an offer of joining Awaken, if we had completed the required training. We agreed, and as Patricia said, went through 3 years of training, and have spent the past 9 years here." She had brown hair, she was similar in figure to her twin, and she had vibrant blue eyes, and looked in her mid twenties.

Patricia then lunged for her sister. "Never interrupt me!" she screeched obviously peeved with a kunai knife drawn. Morgan countered with her own kitchen cutlery and left Patricia with a long deep scratch going through her mask. "You _bitch_!"

Morgan stood triumphant, flipping her knife around in her hand. "Don't forget who the better twin is sis." She stated cockily.

"Yeah, **ME**!" Was Patricia's response, and just as she had lunged again, a flash bomb erupted between the twins, leaving them both stunned and laying on their backs.

"That's enough you two!" Carol shouted, Mike behind her.

"What are you two doing here?" Devante questioned.

"We're members too, we are just late, we had put Rose in charge of everyone." Mike stated. Devante's face softened at the mention of Rose.

"Anyway, please continue with your introductions." Michael announced, slightly irritated at the disgraceful display his members had shown.

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A boy stood next. He couldn't have been more than 2 years older than us. He had blond hair; he also wore some sort of lab coat. He was about Devante's height, with a much slimmer figure. "I'm Jimmy, just call me Jim. I was 3 years old when my mom died; she was executed by the government for not releasing her connection with a rebel group. I never knew my dad, and I never learned my last name. Steve found me in the closet Mom told me to hide in, he took me in and raised me, I've become his apprentice, and I'm the one of the exceptions to the rule of at least a year's worth of training." It was obvious from the boy's tone he hated talking about his past. I looked to Michael, and from just the one glance, I learned he knew the boy's father, and has yet to tell him.

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Next, a woman in her mid 30's came forward, She had blonde hair, green eye's, she was 5'11, and had hook swords on her back. Tattoo's covered any unclothed skin. "I'm Cindi Natterfall I'm one of the original 10. I was Angel's best friend prior to joining. She was like a sister to me, so when she told me she was running away to become an enemy of society with her boyfriend, I couldn't sit by and let her go without some support. I learned how to use hook swords from my uncle, he was a big blade specialist in our hometown." Her face drooped at the mention of her Uncle. An unhappy history was apparent from the original 10. Angel took her friend in an embrace and walked her away.

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"I'm Econdor Mrishin." Said the man who stood before us, in a thick accent. He was 7'1, and had large muscles. He held a halberd in his hand, an ancient weapon, which combined a spear, axe, and hook. He had short hair, and looked very tribal.

"Finally! I'm tired of being surrounded by Caucasians!" Devante shouted, a bit more loudly than he probably intended. A quick look around confirmed, all of the people we've heard from so far were white.

"I'm from Kenya, or at least what's left of it." Econdor stated. "I was an exchange student at Michael's school, and one of the original 10. When Michael decided to run away, I took him to my country. He took a brief stay there before a quick tour of the world. After his return, he formed Awaken, and brought me back to America."

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"And I'm Econdor's sister, Pauline." Said the dark skin girl next to him. About 6'3, pretty tall for a woman, and dark, long hair pulled back into a ponytail, she looked much more modern than him. She looked about mid 30's as did her brother. She had spiked gloves on. "I like to pound people's faces in when they don't listen to reason." She said when she noticed my gaze on her weapon. "I was the first member to finish the required training and join. I had no choice, seeing as my brother had run away, and that was the only way to get to talk to him on my terms. When I learned about the threat to the world, the Dictation, I saw why went as far as to join a rebel group and hideaway in America." She sighed, likely missing her home.

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An Indian man stepped up, he had brown short hair, slightly darker than his skin, he was about 6'3, and early 20's"I'm Senjen Fusel." He said politely, a slight accent on his tongue. "I work with sedations, and capturing targets. My favorite weapon…" at this he smirked. "Is my taser!" he quick drew a yellow gun and shot at Devante, not a split second before Robert had shot it out of Senjen's hand. The Indian man stood at gunpoint, and watched as Devante on instinct raised a counter shock barrier. The taser had no effect on his body.

He looked to Mike and Carol. "You're training them better and better." He smirked. "Anyway, drop the weapon Robert, it was just a test. Robert uneasily placed his pistol back in its holster.

"I entered the complex 13 years ago after Econdor found me half dead in a desert. I was running away from my small country which was under rule by a fierce tyrant." He sighed in disappointment. "I spent 5 years in the complex." He muttered. That was the longest we had heard so far. And seeing three kids take that place and turn it upside down in a short year was probably killing his ego.

*cough* "Loser." *cough* Robert failed to be discreet and was again tripped by Doan's claw. Senjen chuckled, and stepped away.

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Another man stepped up. He was very average compared to the rest of the group. A simple pistol hung in its holster on his 5'6 frame. Short brown hair and brown eyes, he was in about his late thirties, maybe early 40's. "I'm Morese Chyrin. I was one of the original ten, I'm not much for fighting, however, I'm an expert in combat strategies and formations. I'm sort of the advisor around here." He explained.

"Well, you're boring." Devante snorted. Morese hung his head. Patricia chuckled.

"That's what I said!"

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"You already know me." Mike said, and he began to make his leave when Carol pushed him back. "Alright, my name is Mike Usore, I'm one of the original 10, Carol, Michael, Angel, and I were a friend group in High school, and Michael created Awaken when he came back after running away. Carol and I joined him immediately; he had all the proof we needed. And not much later, our school, our town, was all attacked. My uncle owned a building in Death Valley, you three lived in it for about a year. When he died after Dictation made its appearance, I 'inherited' it. Carol and I turned it into the training Complex." He explained.

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Now, another guy took stand. He looked very similar to Mike. "My name is Chancler Usore, Mike's cousin. I joined 9 years ago; I spent 3 years in the complex. I use a whip, just like Mike. When we were kids, I actually taught him to use it. In the complex, he taught me how to use it even better." He said, with a small sigh of shame. "I heard Mike and his friends had a rebel group, I thought he might need backup. I somehow ended up in a training ground at the mercy of the person I came to help." Mike simply stood to the side with a smirk.

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Carol stood next. "I'm Carol Blake, soon to be Usore…" She held up a hand with an engagement ring. Mike could be heard whining in the background. "I took care of Angel when Michael ran away. When he came back, I followed him and Angel into Awaken, dragging Mike with me. I had inherited a plot of land from my aunt when she passed away. A huge plot of land, most of this forest is part of it. About 40 acres west of here is a vacation house-"

Robert cut her off there. "And we're here because?"

"A house in open sight isn't very _secret,_ is it?" She retorted.

"Fair enough." Said the short boy with a pout.

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Grogan took stand next. "Well, you kids also know me as well. Grogan Vriarie, Poison specialist, and one of the original ten." His deep raspy voice echoed across the entire vast space that we were in, his cloak still hiding his features, but his intimidating 6'7 frame gave the impression of a very masculine face. "I was a drug dealer in Michael's town. Doc was an old partner of mine before he became a teacher-"

"Wait, how old _are_ you?" Devante interrupted. He was quickly silenced with a tranquilizer the Grogan threw.

"52 and it's impolite to ask for someone's age. Oh, and that will wear off in 10 minutes." He chuckled at Devante's surprised face, frozen in place due to the toxin's running through his blood stream. "Anyway, Doc confronted me about an organization he was joining. I saw it as a protection from the law, and a chance to get back at the pigs that mindlessly destroyed a third of the world in a pointless war." He grew very stern at the last sentence. "So I gladly joined, and trust me, your safer here than anywhere else in the world."

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Next a figure moved to the center stage, but did not speak. Instead Michael stood next to it, and introduced the mysterious person. "This is not your ordinary member, it's not even human." He said slowly, as he removed the figures mask, revealing a metallic structure that roughly resembled a face. "This is a failed dictation WMD, meet DWMA-3, Dictation Weapon Mechanism Alpha 3. This was an experiment to create a perfect mechanized soldier, built in with human combat instinct and auto upgradeable intelligence, meaning it could learn whatever it needed to. However, this module was defective, it somehow learned feelings, and refused to mindlessly kill targets. Dictation decided to scrap all 5 of the robots for this one's difference. However, we had Doc infiltrating their base at the time, and he snuck away with DWMA-3, having a useless replica destroyed in its place. DWMA-3 has since grown to hate its creators for their attempted destruction of him, and his brothers deaths, he's also grown indebted to us, and has willingly joined our cause."

"Does it, talk?" I asked timidly.

"Yes." Came a vague voice, emitting from the machine.

"Wait, that voice…" Tyson mused.

"Figured you'd pick up on it." Carol said knowingly.

"Then it really is?" He replied.

"Ok, Tyson, it's really cool that you're the deductive genius of the group, but Robert and I are in the dark here, is it the voice of someone you know? Because I've never heard it." Devante ranted, just recovering from Grogan's poison.

"Yes you have, just not like that." The light brown haired boy said in a light hush. "I just can't believe the amount of technology put into that."

"Tyson, you're starting to piss us off." I growl.

"You guys don't hear it?" He gave us a look, a Goddamned irritating look. As if we were the biggest morons on the planet.

"Hear _what?_" Devante seethed.

"And give me that look again and I'll shoot your brains out." I scold in an equal tone.

"The voice is a combination of everyone's voice in here, even yours in there guys." He stated in slight amazement. "But it's mixed in a way so it doesn't sound like a collaboration; it created its own voice by listening to us talk."

"Correct" Said the machine again. Now that I listen to it, it's impossible to describe it as male or female, but I definitely heard my own voice, Devante's, Tyson's, Michael's Grogan's, everyone's, but at the same time, it was its own.

"Whoop-de-freaking-do, Tyson" Devante spat in irritancy.

"Does it have weapons?" I ask.

Then the machines arms expanded and unfolded revealing an assortment of explosives and built in guns and blades, spikes protruded from joints, and gave the peaceful natured robot a very deadly appearance. "Weapons." It gave the impression of a smirk while I whistled, impressed.

On the pat of the shoulder by Michael, the weapons retracted, and the robot returned its mask. "Be very careful around him, we've done our best not to corrupt his mind, especially with ideas such as hormones, and attitude, things teens as yourselves specialize in." Michael stated.

"Yes sir." The three of us said simultaneously.

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Next, Angel stood, her glow as strong as ever. "And I'm Angelica Gates, but just call me Angel. I'm Michael's girl, as you know, and second in command of Awaken. You've heard bits and pieces of how we formed. Shortly after high school graduation, something happened to Michael and I because of the Dictation." Her voice, even though it had started sweet, was growing cold. "If you gain Michaels trust, maybe he'll tell you. Anyway, after the incident, Michael ran away with Econdor to Kenya, for everyone's protection. When he came back around 3 years later, I had graduated collage, but I still remained faithful to him. He gathered up all of us, and formed this group. The goal is to liberate the world from the Dictation, and to protect our own." He voice again became more cheerful. "Over the years, we all had become stronger, and in a few years, we had begun getting members, and we became the strongest rebellion group in the world." She smiled over to the members behind her. "We are family, and soon, you'll be one of us."

We couldn't help smiling. _Family._ It was a void left unfilled in each of us since Dalthesan's fall. "Right." I whispered, Robert and Devante nodded in equal approval.

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Next stood Michael, the only one in the room who had yet to tell of his past, "And I am Michael Cipher, leader of Awaken." His creepy aura seemed to be balancing out standing next to Angel, whose glow had equally deteriorated. "The Leader of Dictation had killed my family personally when I was 18, it was his first strike against the world. He spared me, and for that, I'll never forgive him. Afterwards, I forced Angel to make the worst decision of both our lives, one that forced me to run away, somewhere where no one would be in danger of my uncontrollable rage. But somewhere along the line, I conquered it, and set off to see the world, after a year of torturous solitude. I learned how to use almost every weapon in the world, but I specialize in swords." He continued on, his usually calm voice began change tones throughout his tale. "I began to meet others affected by _him,_ and learned that they were making alliances, making rebellions. I learned from masters of the world, all sorts of skills and qualities a leader needed, what _I_ needed, to prevent this happening all over the world… Unfortunately, since the government is the Dictation's puppets, we haven't been able to stop them at every turn. You witnessed firsthand, and **I **apologize for your suffrage. I returned after two years of training and studies, and formed Awaken. Slowly, we began to gather members, usually only on the times where we _couldn't_ save a town, they seek us out." Michael looked around briefly. "We are more than an organization, we have become a family, with a common goal. We are Awaken, and soon, you'll be one of us." He announced.

I couldn't help the smile that grazed my face… it felt… strange. I had been hiding behind a fake smile and a cocky smirk for over a year now. But _this_… it was genuine. For a reason I couldn't explain, I felt like I _belonged_ here, it was as if _we_ belonged here. If this was our destiny, I welcomed it.

Everyone began to disperse. Michael stopped on his way out of the main area, towards the hall everyone had exited to. "By the way, each member of Awaken gets one request per joining. While you three explore, look for an empty space to call your room, and think about what you want." He said, his usually unreadable voice had turned slightly happy. And then he left.

"You guy's already know what you want?" I asked. Both Robert and Devante nodded the affirmative. "Good, me too." I declared in a serious tone. We went off to explore. We viewed the beautiful structure, after we left the dark hall, we found ourselves on a metallic bridge, with artistic swirl like designs chromed onto its sides, below us, a huge battle ground-like training area, about 20 meters below us. We crossed the bridge, and opened the door at the end, to reveal somewhat of a torch lit cave area, which split into five paths. The first had a sign that said 'kitchen/ dining hall'. The second path, 'Training grounds, simulation rooms, armory'. Third path read 'Living areas'. The fourth one read, 'Meeting hall, observation room, exit route.' The fifth read 'Infirmary, lab'. "Looks like we're hooked up!" Devante grinned after reading.

"Let's head to living area's" Robert announced. We nod and follow his lead. The winding rock path led to a large glass elevator. There were 5 floors, reading we were on the second. We headed for the third.

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After a good 45 minutes of looking around, each floor had its own theme, the first, had a darker, more shadowed like feel to it, the third, almost like an apartment, or hotel. 4th, was more like living in a vehicle, all metal halls and armored doors. And then the 5th floor was more natural, more greenery and a lot more basic living.

"I'll be heading back to the 4th floor." I say nonchalantly, Robert quickly agreed. "Coming Tyson?"

"No," He said. "There's a different place for me." He grinned.

"Where? None of the other places seem like your style." Robert questioned.

"Found a place I like." He responded.

"Whatever man, meet back up in the dining hall in an hour?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." He confirmed. Before walking off toward what we found to be a dead end earlier.

"Where the hell-" I questioned.

"Just forget it, Tyson does what he wants." The shorter boy interjected.

"Ain't that the truth?" I shout as we head back for the elevator.

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I couldn't believe the others hadn't noticed. I tugged on the thick vine in the corner of what Robert called a 'dead end', confirming it would hold. And looking up to the shimmer of light, I knew that's where I wanted to be.

I climbed up the vine, the tiny shimmer slowly growing to a fabulous glow. As I emerged from the fifth floor, I found myself in what was almost a tree house. Looking around, I noticed the tunnel I had been climbing up was a hallow trunk of a _very_ large tree. I was in a lookout. I could see almost the entire forest from my spot, the vast greenery, and the bright blue sky. I could feel the nostalgia of sitting in Dexter's tree house back home. "Here," I state simply. "I'll live here."

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I met up with my friends in the dining hall. Morgan began to bring out some of the most delicious looking meals we've ever seen. We were delighted to have Morgan, Richard, and Cory join us for dinner. Just like a family, everyone waited to eat until _everyone_ was ready for the meal. Angel led a small prayer, and we all began to dig in.

A joyful conversation began at the table; it felt like we had known these people for years. Somewhere in our small talk, a more familiar topic popped up. "I wish I could get some help in that kitchen, it's so tiring to cook for all these people…" Morgan drawled on, while stabbing at the succulent pork chops she had prepared.

"I'd love to help!" Devante and I shout simultaneously. Morgan gave us a hearty smile and a thank you.

"We'll see you for breakfast tomorrow!" Devante piped up.

"So what are you guys going to ask for your requests?" Cory asked. We all shared a look across the table.

"It's a secret!" We all chuckled together at speaking at the same time.

As dinner began to grow to a close, Richard told us to go and report our room numbers to Michael along with our request. We found him in the observation room.

"I'll go first." Robert claimed.

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I entered the room in which Michael had secluded himself to.

"Did you guy's find your way around?" Michael asked warmly.

"We only explored the living areas and dining hall so far, but yeah."

"Good, what did you decide for your room, so we can set you guys up with furniture and such, and know where to find you…" Michaels asked.

"My room is 4D." I say, remembering the plate on the door.

"Alright." He muttered, jotting a quick note on the large computer in the room. "And do you know what you want?" The dark man inquired, revering to my request.

"Yeah…" I say. "I want to make Devante, Tyson, and myself legal brothers."

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After Robert returned from the soundproof room, I walked in, Devante wanted to go last. Michael was waiting, a huge monitor behind him with a series of encrypted messages on it. "Find a room to your liking?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I found the perfect place." I smirked. "On the 6th floor." Michael chuckled.

"You're the first person to discover that place since it was created!" His dark aura seemed to reduce for the moment. "Alright, I'll get some furniture and weatherproofing up there ASAP."

"You already know my request, don't you?" I ask.

"I've got an Idea."

"A list of names and locations of every member of Government Enforcer Squadron 0350" I nearly spat in the angst of my tone.

"You won't rest easy until you get your revenge, will you?" Michael sighed.

"No," I say as I turn my back. "And I've been wondering… Why didn't you tell Jim who his father is?" Michael looked genuinely surprised. "I'm really good at reading someone's eyes." I inform him.

"I noticed." He muttered. "Sometimes, information can hurt someone." He breathes slowly, "I can't tell him yet, it would crush him."

"Alright…" I say as I began my trek back to the others. "But a family doesn't keep secrets from each other." I didn't have to look back; I knew I struck a nerve.

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Tyson came back, a slightly grim face plastered on. "Geese man, we've been here for 2 hours and you already manage to piss people off?"

"Whatever, you've been pissing others off when you were interrupting their life stories."

"True!" Robert had been chuckling behind me. I walk into the observation room. I notice the assortment of tech in the room and whistle impressed.

"Remember your room number?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, 4G." I respond.

"And what do you want?" Michael asked.

"Well, we used to be a crew of four…" I start. "So, could you give us the location of Allyvia Fogarty?" I ask.

Awaken

(A.N.) So glad to finally publish this hellish chapter. It give's me migrains to just think about it. Anyway, please review, I'll gladly listen to any advice you readers have!


	3. Chapter 13, Bonds of Friendship

(A.N.) Well, I'd like to thank some of my newer readers for enjoying the story so far, I've recently been told that my writing had drastically improved, so I'll try my damndest to keep improving. Not as long as the last chapter, but much more action packed. Some character action, and we finally get some plot devolpment. Enjoy!

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 13: Bonds of Friendship

_I wait in the treetops, and wait for the signal from my partner, Econdor… The hours pass, and dusk becomes twilight. Suddenly, I hear the call of a bird, the call I've been waiting for. I rush to action, speeding across branch to branch, until I'm right above the target, the poor unsuspecting target. I survey the surroundings. He's asleep, in a tent, __**alone**__. I quietly enter his campsite, and set my Com-Link to a metal detector mode. And find the signal to come from under the tent. I return the bird call given earlier. Econdor swoops down in a matter of seconds. I gesture to under the tent. "Good work Joel."_

_"Thank you sir!" I reply, matching his hushed tone. We began a quiet excavation of the area, and came to the buried loot, the equivalent of $300,000. We quickly escape, as his tent caves in to the carved out ground. We return to the bank, leaving the bag, and a note: Mission accomplished, all stolen goods present and accounted for. Joel & Econdor._

Upon returning to our rooms, we see that we've been decked out with a queen sized bed, a love seat, a new wardrobe, a decently sized television, a desk, computer, and chair, a mini fridge, and a phone. How the hell they managed to hook all of it up considering where my room is in a matter of a few hours, I'll _never_ know.

"We have our own bachelor pads!" Devante cheered. We were longing in his room, discussing how sweet our new home was. After a good half hour of mutual agreement that we hit the jackpot, the phone rang. Robert answered it.

The shorter boy was nodding, and occasional said 'uhuh' 'yeah, ok' and finished with "We'll be right down Doc." He turned to us. "Doc says it's time for our experiment, and it will likely put us to bed rest for at least a week." The dread evident on his face. Robert had always disliked hospitals, labs, and anything involving needles.

"Well, we don't have a choice…" I say. Getting up from my relaxed position on the sofa, I walk to the door. Looking back to the guys, I see both just staring at the apparently amazingly interesting floor. "Unless you two want to go to living on the streets, I suggest you get off your asses and deal with a week off."

"I don't want to hear that from the one who kept us from our _month_ off." Robert whined as he and Devante got their shoes back on, and joined me in the hall on the way to the lab.

Once back in the cave area on the second floor, we went through the cave area which led to the Lab. Once through another winding path, we appeared in a large tiled area, with two halls, one led to the infirmary, the other to our destination. We made the obvious choice, and walked in to see Michael, Doc, Jim, and Angel sit in waiting.

"Good to see you all made it…" Doc muttered as he prepared three conspicuously _large_ needles. Robert could be heard gulping from half a kilometer away. "Please take your spots on each of the tables."

"Can we at least know what we're about to take?" Devante asked, sitting on the metal experiment table.

"A concentrated serum that I developed a while back…" He sighed. "You all remember the serum that ultimately started WWIII, right?" We nodded. "Well, this is a step up from that."

"Devante suddenly went all starry eyed "So we'll develop even _more_ powers!"

"Not exactly…" Jim began. "What that old chemical compound did was actually accent the percentage of brain power each person could use. From 10% to 15% made an incredible change in the human race. Doc's compound raises the 15% to 20%, meaning you'll become stronger, faster, more accurate, and quicken your reactions. The more of your brain you use, the more you're able to push your limits." He explained.

"This will give you an edge over the Dictation." Angel explained.

"Hold on, if this is really supposed to be all that, then why was it so easy to beat our 'test fights' against Carol, Grogan, and Mike?" I ask.

Carol at that moment entered the lab. "We never took those fights seriously." She yawned a bit bored. "Stand up Tyson." I did as instructed. "Now, try to come at me." She made no change in her relaxed stance. I quickly rushed her, faking a right uppercut before changing into a sweep kick. She simply grabbed my leg, and tossed me into the air, without _trying._ "Notice how little we all participated when Dictation invaded the complex? You think that place isn't rigged with weaponry, and our Hovermech's don't have defense systems? We allowed you to handle the situation to see what you were capable of, but it would've been child's play for us to eliminate the threat." She stated coldly.

"You're kidding me!" I wince.

"Nope…" She yawned. I returned to the test table.

"So, why will this put us out of commission for a week?" Robert asks.

"You'll see." Carol smirked. She had really raised her walls since we left the complex. Was it respect for Michael? At the complex, she hardly ever treat us as less than star pupils, now we were like kids in eye's again…

We all got our injections after a small numbing shot. For the first few minutes, everything was fine. But the relief was short lived.

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"Shit." Both my friends look to me, I'm clutching my chest in extreme pain as my breath comes in short exasperated bursts. My eyes widen in a realization.

"Robert, are you-" Devante began.

"My body is fighting the injection!" I manage to get out. I see the worried look in Tyson's, he trusted me whole heartedly, even though he had yet to experience anything. It seemed as though every cell in my body was pulsating sporadically. Then, it all became worse.

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I watched my friend reel in pain, And I don't know what thought I focused more on, how much he was suffering, or how lucky I was it wasn't me. These were both short lived thoughts. My body ignited in a split second. Every fiber of my being burned. I gasp in shock, looking my body over, not a flame was found. The room was suffocating me, the world grew darker, I drift closer to unconsciousness, and I manage one sentence. "Tyson, you're about to be balls deep in torture."

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I look to both my friends, not doubting either's words, or their pain. They both had appeared to get hit suddenly, without warning. The quiet wait was the most suspenseful and tortuous moment I've experienced since the day I killed the bastard who dared to approach my shack. I was sitting in wait, staring at the white tiles of the lab, drifting my gaze to the machinery lining the walls, the monitors in the corner, reading our vitals. Both of my friends had skyrocketed, while mine remained steady. I tried to control my breathing, despite my rising heart rate. I saw only the beginning of it. The sudden spike in that glowing green line. I collapsed to the floor, using every ounce of my strength not to cry out in excruciating pain. It felt as if I had knives stabbing through each of my organs repeatedly.

Doc finally spoke. "Your bodies are currently tearing down and rebuilding your cells repeatedly and at an incredibly rapid pace. You all shouldn't bother holding in your screams, it only makes the pain worse…" He informed. "You're most likely going to pass out within the next hour, and the process will last roughly three days, and it'll take at least another half week to recuperate and break in your new strength." He said expressionlessly. Then he smiled sadly. "Enjoy hell."

"Everyone's taken this, and gone through the process, and no one's made it without screaming." Michael informed.

"So don't bother with the tough act, nobody's going to think less of you." Carol added.

I stood, and all of them gaped at me. I stared at them all coldly. "This better be worth it for hurting my friends." I nearly spat.

"Tyson… Your really shouldn't be stan-" The glowing girl next to Michael began. I ignore her, and shakily make my way a few agonizingly long meters to my friends, who are holding in all of their hurt with everything they've got. I get Robert on his feet first, and slung my arm over his shoulder, and then together, we do the same for Devante, and with Robert between the two of us, we slowly limped our way towards the infirmary. "You should all stop right there!" Angel yelled concerned.

"We dug our graves and managed to get each other into this mess, we'll bare through the suffering and consequences together." Devante mutters. And we continued to sway almost drunkenly towards our destination. Michael stood in our path.

"If you all don't stop being so damn stubborn, and allow us to transport you _safely_ to the infirmary, you may only be increasing the length of the effects." He growled. By now, other members were filing in, shocked at the scene we were making.

"Stubborn teenage kids, that's what we are." Robert chuckled half heartedly as we brush past him. It was evident by his voice he was fading fast.

"Keep with us man, we're half way there." I encourage him. Richard suddenly charged in and tried to support us, but I stopped him with my arm, almost losing balance. My eyes were growing blurry, and sounds were beginning to fade and slur. I gave him a death glare, or what I could manage of one. "Keep out of this one." I state in near murderous intent as I spit up blood.

"You're a bunch of suicidal bastards!" Cory piped in.

"No one asked you jackass!" Devante seethed. We were almost to the door, and we were almost too groggy to continue on. With one last push of strength, we opened it, and managed to get Robert, who was now too far gone to continue, to the closest bed. The next was still a ways away. "Which one of us is worse?"

"I'm seeing double." I admit.

"I'm at triple, and I can barely see color anymore." He groaned in pain. We make our way there, and Devante collapses onto the bed. And I alone have to finish the way to the third bed. It was the longest three meters of my life. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, I trekked to the welcoming bed. My world was turning sideways; I couldn't differentiate direction, and noticed I was moving the wrong way.

"F-fuck." I mutter. "Still a meter to go." All the muscle in my legs was reduced to sand. And with half a meter left, I collapsed. I heard people surrounding me, and practically lashed at them all. I no longer was able to comprehend who they were. All that mattered were they were in my way. I crawled toward the metal frame, and pressed my fevering forehead against the cool steel. I slowly pulled myself upright, and set myself into the bed. Shadows towered above me, most likely people, but I no longer heard them. Blackness enveloped me, and I welcomed its silence and its comfort away from the hellish feeling in my body.

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I had my first dream that didn't involve blood since Dalthesan's fall. It was just the four of us again, sitting in the field, watching the fire flies dance above our heads, and the stars, as they shone and lit up the infinite blackness which was the midnight sky. We joked just as we used to, and talked about our plans, it was just like old times. And as the time passed, the fireflies left, the stars faded, the sky brightened, and we watched the sunrise. As it took its place in the sky, I became blinded, and that's when everything returned.

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All the pain from before returned like I had been smashed in the chest with a mallet, and I held in the scream that threatened to leave my throat. Looking over, Devante and Robert are awake and suffering just as much as I am. Jim entered the infirmary and did a quick check up of how our vital readings were progressing.

"You three are the biggest dumbasses I've ever seen." The boy muttered. It was obvious Devante wanted to retort, but couldn't bring himself to it. "I admire you guys for it." His honesty shown through his harsh tone.

I simply smirk my cocky smile I use whenever I'm complimented. Devante and Roberts shock slowly turned into appreciative smiles as well.

He left, and the three of us were alone in silence. Devante broke the quiet, and shakily said. "You guys want to make a bet?"

"I'm in." I take a deep breath, not knowing how winded talking would make me.

"What's the bet?" Robert winced at the hoarseness in his own voice.

"The last one of us to scream becomes the official leader of the group." He grinned while at the same time flinching at his inner turmoil. Devante and I had been in an argument over which the better leader is, which Robert occasionally argued was him, but never got very far in it.

"Then just hurry and scream already." I taunt my friends in a raggedy voice.

"You first."

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After two days of this hell, the three of us were beside ourselves in our individual hurting. Looking to each other, we were all on the edge. By now it was night, and we still had at least another half day of this horror, and well knew, that was much too long to hold this in. Someone was going break soon. But each of us was determined to not be it.

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Angel and I stood outside their room; we hadn't left since they began. "Why do they have to be so-?"

"Much like you?"

"What are you talking about?" I inquire.

"Don't be dense Michael; you know as much as I do that Tyson is almost a younger version of you." A sigh left her lips, likely remembering our younger years.

"Was I really that stubborn?" I ask, remembering the glare he gave us when he stood.

"You still are." My childhood friend responds. Suddenly a piercing scream erupted from the infirmary, I identified it as Robert.

"At least one of them is coming to their senses." I murmur.

"I think he just couldn't hold it in anymore."

Soon, most of Awaken gathered in the hall hearing the scream, and before long, bets were being made who would be next. Hours passed, and Angel and I made a bet of our own.

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Looking to Tyson, he's using all of his strength to hold in his shouts, just like me, Robert continued to wail in occasional bursts, but not nearly as bad as before. He admittedly looked as though he felt better. It's that which made the idea of letting go that much more appealing. I look to Tyson again, that one shared glance said everything.

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Just as everyone began to suspect that perhaps they would never scream, it came, both of them at the same time. It was heart wrenching and almost beautiful at the same time, looking to Michael, then to the rest of our group, the both of us say with pride… "Pay up!"

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It took a whole 2 more days before our bodies stopped its rebuilding process, and a full extra week to recuperate. The first thing we noticed was we were noticeably at least 2 in. taller. Then we learned how much our reactions had quickened. When Tyson fell out of his bed when trying to stand before he was ready, I had caught him before he hit the ground.

"Whoa." Was all that left my lips. I noticed my body was _much_ stronger from how light his 150 lb. frame was.

"I know right?" Devante grinned behind me.

After we were fully healed, Michael called us into his office in the observation area. "You're all going to need to develop your own weapons, we'll provide the materials for you, but you'll need to make them as unique and strong as possible, it will be harder for the dictation to trace the origins of weapons that they didn't know existed." He informed us. "We'll also be putting a small tracking device in them so we know where you are… There's also one in your suits, and helms which have been placed in your wardrobes. No precaution is too much."

"Got it." Tyson said. The both of us nodded in understanding, and he led us to an area in the training jurisdiction that had a mill, there, we had all the instructions of any type of weapon, and plenty of gear needed for an advanced blacksmith. Over the course of the next month, we watched members come and go to their missions while we developed our weapons, and went through the different training rooms of the lower area. There were weight rooms, weapon rooms stuffed with dummies waiting to be clobbered, slashed, and shot, element rooms where you could change the temperature of the room, and continue to test you elements without being overly destructive, and many more. And after one long month of working, Tyson was the one who finished first.

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Both of my friends stared in amazement at my finished product. "It's… unbelievable." Devante gaped.

"Can you even _lift_ that?" Robert asked. I smirked and lifted the thick sword, which was exactly as tall as I was, and easily flipped it in the air and caught it as if I was playing with a knife.

"Yep, sure can." I smirk. Devante walked over to me.

"What's with the unneeded metal at the tip?" He asked, referring to the fact that at the top of the blade, extra metal protruded from the back.

"Its extra weight, when I slash it will make a cleaner cut, more goes into a sword then how sharp it is." I lectured the African boy.

"And the markings?" Robert pointed at the Japanese inscriptions in the blade.

"Well," I begin at pointing to the ones with large X's through them. On the left side of the blade. "These are the names of my parents, Derek, and Amber." Then I turn the blade over to reveal the others. "And these are your names, Devante, Robert, Allyvia, and Dexter. They resemble what I've lost, and what I still have to protect." I say, with a sad voice, as I caressed the beautiful steel.

They both looked at me for a moment, and those looks told me what they didn't have the balls to say. 'Are you sure those two are still alive?' I suddenly boil in rage, and place the sword in the custom made sheath for it on my back, and stormed out, leaving them to their projects.

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My gun was finished next, a beautiful burst rifle with a scope almost as accurate as a sniper's, a magazine of 30 rounds, and powerful and accurate enough to hit a bull's-eye from over 100 meters away. Tyson and Devante both gave me the same comment. "Typical." And Tyson left again as Devante returned to his work.

"One of these, I'll shoot you both." I mutter under my breath. Ever since Tyson finished his sword, he's been a total bastard, and Devante has been almost the same.

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I was a good week and a half behind Robert, but I finally finished it, my own ultimate weapon. When they looked at the hilt, the both gave me a critical look. "You spent a month and a half, developing a _hilt?_"

I simply grin, and began to release fire through my arm, the small runes in the hilt glowed red and orange, as fire emerged from the slit and developed a sword. Tyson gazed at me in amazement "How the hell did _you _of all people develop that?"

"I just did what it said in the instructions." I say nonchalantly and tossed him the stack of papers. "And it also works for ice and lightning." I say as I demonstrate both respectively. "It's one complicated bitch, though."

"Damn." The shorter boy commented. Then Michael walked in. He had been alerted we were all finished, he looked over each weapon, and handed them back with a smile.

"Good work, they are all done excellently." He complimented. We all walked out. "It took a while for you to finish, but you came up with quality weapons." The dark man was definitely pleased with our work.

"Michael, we have a call from the leader of the LA Renegades!" Doan called out.

We all headed for Michaels office, where on the huge monitor, a bearded man was waiting. "Barren Aden, leader of the LA Renegades, how can I help you?" Michael asked politely. The other mans eyes narrowed.

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"I've become away you are sheltering a bay named Robert Sodawasser." He announced. "Both his parents were members of the Renegades during the War, they trained him from a young age, and we see it fit for him to join us."

"Excuse me, but he's already joined Awaken, and is scheduled for his first mission tomorrow." Michael told him boldly.

"The remains of Robert's family are _here_. This is where he belongs." Barren retorted.

"Why don't you let him decide where he belongs?" Michael asked.

"Uh." I was locking up; I had to choose between my family and my friends. "Can you give time to think?" I asked nervously.

"Fine, you've got one month to decide, and then you'll tell me your decision." The man stated coldly, and the monitor went blank.

All eyes were on me, the attention was suffocating me. I slid to my knees and gripped at my short red hair. 'What am I going to do?'

Awaken

(A.N) So, what do you guys think? Love it, hate it? Review and let me know! Next update will probably be August 10th for this story, and I'll be posting another little LuNa oneshot before then. So until then my readers, adiue.


	4. Chapter 14 Bonds of Fear

(A.N.) Well, The winner of the poll was the LuNa Story Our History, for those of you who didn't know, so that will be released apon this fic's completion. I haven't gotten a whole lot of writing done here on vacation, so the next update is being delayed until the 30th, sorry. Hope you enjoy this chapter, which is the first mission our trio will embark on.

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 14: Bonds of Fear

_I hated these jobs, assassinations weren't my style, I was much better at interrogations. Whatever, the job had to be done. So many dirty politicians, just being puppeteered by the Dictation. He didn't have a family, or friends, or an opinion, he hardly had a soul. He sold it all for money. He left his office, and I made my move. He took the elevator; I jumped out a window into the pitch black night and latched on to a ridge a few meters from the ground. The strain in my arm went nearly unnoticed, and I dropped the rest of the way, and took a shadowed position behind his vehicle. He exited the building, and walked into the parking garage, the click of his heels could be heard echoing off the walls, he was so unsuspecting, from the regal he carried himself, he thought he was on top of the world. Well, I'm about to knock him off. He turned the corner, and came into my view, he was bulky, dressed in a beige suit, and thought he was going to live to see daylight. He was wrong. I lashed my whip just had he reached out for the door, my whip wrapped around his neck, forming an effective noose, and constricted his windpipe. He tried to scream, but he couldn't. "Just relax, and it will end quickly!" I spat, growing irritated at his struggle. His face turned purple, his struggle faded, his breath calmed, and finally stopped. His bowels released themselves at the loss of bodily control. I swiftly made my way into the building, where the secretary was waiting with my payment. I handed her my card. 'Awaken Merc- Mike'_

Wow, that was a long time ago, my first mission… Now, I'm taking these three to theirs. If it weren't for Robert being totally wigged out by that LA Renegades bullshit, I would have been completely confident in their ability to succeed. I can't believe I'm taking time off from training those back at the complex for something so simple. All they had to do was retrieve a stolen artifact from a museum. Probably going to be just some thug who wanted to pawn the thing. "You guys know what to do?" I ask them to be sure.

"First, we track the artifact." Robert started.

"Then, we retrieve it, by any means necessary." Devante continued.

"Then, we return it to its rightful owner, and collect our pay, split it in 4, and give 1/4th to Michael, and keep the rest." Tyson finished.

"Good, I'll be watching your moves via satellite from a secure location; you'll all have radio transmitters in your helmets linked to me, and to each other. I'll guide you guy's if you need me." I reply, as we neared the drop off zone. "You guy's ready for your first jump?"

"Affirmative!" They all yelled. They had been set up with parachutes, created of a clear material allowing them to fall safely, but undetected. The drop zone was a large field approximately 5 miles away from the city, they would trek three of the miles, and meet up with a transport that would take them to the museum, where they could gather the info needed, and go from there.

"Alright boys, good luck!" I shout to them, they jumped and were swept away.

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I couldn't hear the shit that the other two were screaming about. I could hardly hear my own screams as I fell down. We were over 9000 meters above the ground, and we had a long fall. The sky had turned orange in the beautiful sunset, and loved looking at it every time my body turned towards it in my spinning.

About 1000 meters left… Robert had already pulled his strings, and his parachute expanded, and caused his speed to rapidly decrease. Devante and I looked to each other. The unspoken was heard loud and clear. _Bet you hit your chute before I do… _

900…

800…

600…

500…

I was growing nervous… how far was he willing to go?

400…

300…

200…

100…

FUCK! I hit the chute at about 25 meters to go, and Devante bust out fire, altering his course, and he landed in a nearby lake, hitting the water **hard**. _Goddamn bastard… That was genius!_ He got me; I hadn't even considered using the lake as a safe point. He also used fire to reduce his speed, so he didn't get a full hit from the water, but he was more than likely to be injured.

I touched down, and immediately sprinted for Devante. "Devante? Are you alright?" I called out. Before long, his head surfaced on the water, gasping for air.

"I win!" He roared.

"Too bad you didn't place an amount!" I called out to him. He swam over to the edge, and climbed out, muttering curses at his flaw. "And I'm not one to fall for the same trick twice!" I remind him with a pat on the back, as we begun heading in the direction where Robert would be landing. The wind carried our Irish friend over and landed more westwards than we had.

"How was your fall buddy?" Devante asked a slight strain in his voice. That chemical we had taken was absolutely amazing, Devante fell that far, and it seemed he'd only suffer from stiffness and significant bruising.

"You're on to talk, dare devil!" Robert chuckled as he unstrapped. "Alright, we've got three miles to trek southwest from here." He reminds us, and we began a decent paced walk through the calm field.

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We continued on, I had a slight limp from landing on my left side. It wasn't my greatest idea, but I didn't really regret it… What's life without a few risks? Besides, I wanted to start pushing my new limits far beyond the gym. The slight breeze of early summer was enjoyable. "When's the last time we just had a walk?" I think out loud. This had just been a regular activity for us in our childhoods

"At least two years…" Robert mutters. It really was too bad that we couldn't enjoy this sunset… We were on a mission after all.

"When we get some free time," Tyson began. "Let's get out, and just act like none of this ever happened for a day and just camp out like we used to." Tyson smiled after a long 20 minutes of silence.

"Right." The both of us nod. We neared our destination, and placed our helms on our heads, which had been sitting in our thankfully waterproof packs.

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We showed up to our transport right on time, we boarded, and relaxed. We remained silent, each looking out to the growing nightlife of the city. None of us had much experience in city life, so all of the lights and the absolute mass of people were unlike anything we've ever seen.

"Wow." It was all I could muster self to say. Tyson and Devante nodded in equal awe. We were soon dropped off at the museum; we entered through a back door, as we had been instructed earlier. We met with the curator, and he showed us everything there was about this artifact. Some sort of staff, made out of some ancient ore, an incredible conductor of heat and electricity. Valued at $320,000, the bronze like staff was one of the lesser priced exhibits in this museum.

"We're not dealing with a thug." Tyson said.

"What else could it be? People steal and pawn things of value all the time!" The short curator exclaimed.

"Looking around your museum sir, there are things of much greater value that would be much harder to trace. Either someone was looking for _this_ staff, or they wanted the ore it was made out of." Tyson and his wonderful logical. The man's eyes widened in realization.

"Go quick! Before they melt it down or something!" He exclaimed.

"Give us a minute sir." I try to calm him down. Touching a switch on the side of my helmet, I change the visual to ultra violet, which would allow us to see fingerprints. Looking around, there was only a few on the glass case which had protected the artifact. Then, with my newly upgraded Com-Link, I scan the fingerprints, and in a matter of minutes, we had a match.

"The guy who stole it was definitely no thug." I announced as I read. "Dr. Zimmer Darién, arrested for cruelty to animals in some of his experiments, and escaped from prison about 7 weeks ago."

"Great, let's find him." Devante muttered. We left and began to brainstorm where he could have gone. We sat in a dark alleyway, where no one could see us do to our black suits, except the silver A on the chest and back, which would shine when it sees light. Most would find it as a flaw in the design, but it carried the message of what we were about, a second chance, a light shining in the darkness.

Looking up to the sky, I notice something. "There are no stars." I remark.

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Realization hit me. "Of course!" I shouted. The others looked to me. It's a thunder storm tonight; he's going to use the staff as a lightning rod to power something!" If I could have seen Tyson's face in that moment, it would have been priceless.

"Since when are _you_ the smart one?" He asked.

"I don't know, I hit that lake pretty hard." I mused. We agreed to make way to the rooftops, split up, and contact each other if we found it.

"Well, there are no skyscrapers in the east of the city. So I'll take west district, Devante, you take downtown, Robert, take uptown." Tyson ordered. We scaled the buildings easily thanks to the semi sticky nature of the gloves and boots.

_I love this suit! _I think remembering all the features Michael told us about.

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_6 hours ago- We followed Michael into the training area, decked out in our own armor suits. He wore his, but instead of the silver parts that we had, his were gold, signifying his position as the leader._

"_Your suits have several qualities, the first thing you'll notice, is it's light weight, that's crucial for your jobs, since they'll mostly involve sneaking in shadows at night. The main armor, which covers your chest, arms, and legs, has a fireproof and non conductive cover, to prevent element damage, Ice can still get to you though, so be careful. Underneath that, there is a bullet proof layer, beneath that, is a steel plate to prevent damage from blunts and blades, and beneath that is some breathable material. Now, to maintain lightweight, all of these layers aren't incredibly durable, they are meant to protect you from surprise attacks, not a full out fight." He informed us. He then stood before one of our dummies that we practiced on. "You have a few basic hidden weapons, in your right wrist…" He punched the dummy, and a huge gash formed in its neck. "Is a hidden blade." He held up his right arm to show us the knife extending from underneath his wrist, and showed the small button on the glove you needed to press with your thumb to activate it. "Left wrist is a gun." From the top of his elf wrist, a small gun appeared. "It's very inaccurate, and only has three rounds, use at short ranges only." He continued to inform us. He showed us the button on the palm of the glove, on to activate and hide the gun, and another to fire. "The heels of your boots have blades on them, and there's another small blade in the tip of the boot as well." He performed a round house kick that left another gash, and a toe kick to the stomach that left a hole in the dummy._

"_Oh hell yes!" I exclaimed. "Now I've got weapons __**built in!**__" This was going to be fun. He continued to tell us about communications in our helmets, and the different views we had built in. An infrared, ultra violet, night vision, and somewhat of an x-ray, which could see through walls, but not clothes. "Michael, you're no fun, man." I mutter at the mention of our x-ray's incapability._

"_And you, my boy, are a pervert." He retorted. He showed us the grip on the gloves and boots that would allow us to scale buildings. How to use our helmets to translate any language spoken into English. Then we went to go have our Com-Links massively Upgraded to serve a multitude of purposes._

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_Where the hell is this lightning rod?_ Jumping and scaling all of these sky scrapers was growing tiring. Downtown was an exciting place, but all of these buildings were beginning to irk me. It seemed like this guy wasn't even in the city. Looking to the horizon, lightning was beginning to form, and the storm was quickly heading towards us… "We've got less than an hour…" I mutter under my breath.

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Running across the roof tops, searching frantically, I search for the bronze like artifact. _Where the hell is it?_ The city was huge, and even only looking through a 4th of it was proving to be exasperating. "Uptown seems to be a bust!" I shout into my transmitter. _Where could it be?_

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Searching across West District wasn't holding much reward; I stood atop the tallest building and used a zoom like feature on the view of my helmet, but I wasn't finding any bronze-ish poles on any of the rooftops. "Damn," I muttered. Suddenly my transmitter cracked on.

"Uptown seems to be a bust!" Robert's voice called from his location.

"Downtown too!" Devante relayed.

"I haven't had any luck either." I sighed.

"We're gonna have a lightning storm on our hands in about 20 minutes! We need to find this thing fast!" Devante's voice cracked in again. _Shit._ Looking around, there was only one higher building in the city, which was…

"We'll only one place it could be then." I inform them.

"East?" Robert asked.

"No, the capital building in the city center!" I shouted out to them as I began to sprint across the rooftops.

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_Capital building? Fuck! Why hadn't I thought of that?_ I think to myself as I head south to meet up with Tyson and Devante. The capital building was the largest building in the city! How could we have missed it!

Finally reaching the large tower, I began to scale the building. My lungs began to burn from all of the activity, but I ignore it and continue my ascent. Reaching the top, I see that Tyson and Devante had arrived before me, but they paid no mind to my arrival, they were both staring at something else.

Once I had gathered my breath, I look to see what it is that had their attention. My jaw nearly hits the concrete below me as I gaped at the site.

"It's a bomb!"

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The staff was rigged to an array of wires, which had led to several packs of explosives that led to a large ovular structure… I had seen a picture similar to that somewhere. "Is that… An atomic bomb?" Robert nearly squeaked, my eyes widen.

"As soon as that lightning hits, everything in the city, probably more will be destroyed!" Devante called out.

"Robert, you're best with bombs, try to defuse it!" I barked. "As soon as it's inactive we'll dispose of the bomb, and return the artifact."

"Tyson, this isn't your average bomb, if I screw up, it's not just my life I'm risking, it'd be the entire city's!" He complained.

"Robert, we don't have a choice, the lightning storm's almost here, we have approximately 5 minutes!" Devante tried to convince him. "We have to disable the bomb."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." A mysterious voice arose.

"Dr. Zimmerman Darién, why are you doing this?" I growl. He was short, 5'3, graying blond hair, his eyes covered by some strange goggles. And he wore a pitch black lab coat.

"Simply revenge." He smirked. "I break out of jail, to which I was sentenced for nothing more than a few tests, only to find my lab completely ransacked and barren. Now, everyone dies." He smirked.

"Break the law asshole, and this is what happens." Devante scowled.

"Law? What law?" Zimmerman cackled. "I'm working for the _true_ government, The Dictation, developing them a super soldier serum. It's was rat bastards like you that had me done in. In the end, it's all your fault."

"You're making no sense, at all." I growled as I aimed my revolver at him. Suddenly, the revolver flew from my hand, and landed in his.

"I don't think so." He smirked foully. I see Robert turn from the bomb, with his pistol in hand. My eyes narrowed as I connected the dots.

"Robert don't! He's got magnetic gloves!" I ordered. "Go back to working on the bomb." Lightning struck right next to the building, and in an instant, the entire city's power went out. 'Devante, redirect all the lightning away!"

"On it!" He confirmed. I faced off against the crazed man, whom was now nearly invisible in the lightless city, but then again, so were we. The only time we could see each other, was when Devante would redirect the lightning. I unsheathe my huge blade.

"How powerful is that magnet of yours?" I question. His goggles lit up, some sort of night vision. _Wow I'm a dumbass._ I think as I click on my own. I whisper into my transmitter, "Night vision."

The reply made me feel even more idiotic. "Had it on since we started searching." They had both replied. _Stupid, stupid, __**stupid!**_

"Let's test it out, shall we?" The dr. smirked. He would have seen my own if it wasn't for my reflective screen on my helmet.

We charged each other, he shot, and I cut the bullet with my blade. Even I was amazed at how fast I could move with the massive sword. _Finally, some action_.

Awaken

(A.N.) Well, next chapter will be the conclusion of the mission, which means a fight scene. Hope you'll all enjoy. Please review and let me know what you think of the chapter, and the story as a whole. I enjoy every bit of input I get! See you all again on the 30th!


	5. Chapter 15, Bonds of Brotherhood

(A.N.) Hey, sorry about that delay, and unfortunately, the next chaoter may take even longer. My exscuse? School sucks. Sorry =P This chapter has a little action, with finnishing off the battle that was started last chapter. I hope you all enjoy. Please remember to review so I know what needs to improve!

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 15, Bonds of Brotherhood

_Cold rainy nights, these were perfect for my job. All I had to do was steal what was already stolen. Take the sword of the great Ferric Dublin, who leaded Ireland in WWIII, which had been stolen by a petty swordsman, who believed that great swords made the master, rather than the other way around. I cornered him, not that he was running, e simply walked right to a dead end. "You sure you want to face me, mister?" He chuckled "I have the sword of one of history's bravest bladesman; you believe you can handle it?"_

_"It's the man that makes the sword powerful, in the hands of a careless bastard, like you; it's little more than a sharpened twig." I retorted._

_"Oh, really? Then bring it on!" He shouted as he unsheathed the saber, charging me sloppily. I wouldn't even have to make this a sword fight. I easily side stepped him, and caught his leg from underneath him, his face hit the unforgiving concrete of the allay in which we stood, and cracked his skull. The sword of my old friend lied a few meters away, carelessly dropped by the now unconscious buffoon. _

_"Not everyone is meant to be a swordsman." I shrug, as I sheath the fine sword, and return to Farric's house. 'Kid's these days; they make my job too easy.' _

_"Ah, George Jury! What can I do you for?" Asked my old comrade._

_"Just returning what is yours." I smirk._

God, lightning was fast. It was using all of my concentration to find where it would hit, and pushed my limits to respond, striking the bolts with my own streams of electricity, or touching them with my element blades to absorb the shock. I took a brief second to check Robert's progress; it looked like he was still hard at work disabling the bomb. More and more lightning kept shooting for the rod… _Damn that fucking artifact._

I took another glance to see Tyson having an easy time with the Dr. who was impaired with his magnetic glove, which kept making him lurch toward Tyson with every swing of the blade. It appeared that the sword was too heavy to be moved by the magnet. I focused on my task once more. _I can't let a single bit of lightning hit that rod._

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This fucker wouldn't give up; he quickly learned that the weight of my blade was greater than the magnetic force of his invention. After about 5 minutes of dodging, he remembered he had a gun in his hands, and began to shoot at me. I dodge his bullets, just as I had learned to, but I had some difficulty here in the dark. My night vision made everything appear in green, and bullets were tough to discern from everything else. Not to mention I couldn't see anything when the lightning stuck. Every now and then, a shot would hit, but my bullet proof suit allowed me to brush it off. However, I couldn't make any mistakes; one shot to the face could still be fatal. So I had no choice but to keep my distance.

_Come on guys, finish up…_ I thought as a bullet whizzed by my helmet. _There's no way I can do this forever._

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I spent a large amount of time distinguishing the wires in the dark of night, and then I had to carefully disable and remove each explosive pack. I nearly scream as my hand slips, and I nearly pull an active wire, which would trigger the explosion. _Fuck… This is way too intense._ I hear Tyson's giant blade whoosh near my head, but I ignore it. From Zimmerman's grunts, I decided that Tyson was having little trouble. It was Devante, who was desperately jumping about, stopping lightning from striking a mere meter or two away from their target. _Just a little longer…_ I had disabled and removed about half of them already. After I finish them all, I'll just have to carefully remove the rod. All the thunder was very distracting, though. It took all my restraint to not jump when it hit, then, gunshots started from behind me.

This could only mean that the Dr. had gone on the offensive, not only did this mean that Tyson was in danger now, but the distraction made it incredibly harder to concentrate on the wires. More and more close calls were made as the minutes went by, nearly setting off explosions that would kill thousands of innocent people. _Damnit, I hate pressure…_ Devante was doing a great job of redirecting lightning, without him; we'd all be dead right now. Tyson was without a doubt important here too, if he wasn't taking on all of Zimmerman's attention, I would have been killed a while ago. This was a much larger strain on our teamwork than anything we've ever experienced.

"One explosive pack left…" I mutter into the transmitter.

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Robert was almost finished, that meant that I had to get rid of this Zimmerman bastard, ASAP. If he rewired this rig, even without the rod, shit would hit the fan fast. I dodged his bullets with difficulty, looking for an opening in the night. I bided as much time as I could, and waited. Finally, he had to reload. I ran up to him and kicked him square in the jaw, he stepped back to catch his balance, and was left right where I wanted him.

"So long, doc!" I shouted out to him as I threw my sword in a saw blade motion, circling through the air at a deadly speed. He sidestepped its trajectory, just as I expected.

"Your weaponless now, kid!" He yelled back as the blade passed, and then he realized the gravity of the situation, rather quickly. His magnetic glove covered hand helplessly flung toward the metal, but wasn't strong enough to stop it, so it followed it by force, pull the Dr. along with it.

His scream pierced the air as he fell; he probably hadn't even realized how close he was to the edge of the building after I kicked him. My sword had lodged itself into a steel girder in a nearby skyscraper. Suddenly, his voice came to a dead stop. _It's way too early for him to have hit the ground… _Looking over the edge, he was hanging off of a metal spire in the structure. He looked above to see me pull out my revolver, and wave goodbye as I ended him. _One less psychotic asswhole in my way. _

Turning to my friends, I see Robert remove the final wire of the bomb. "Success!" He cheered, falling back in relief. Devante and I walked over to him to help him up. After we all caught our breath, we began to walk to the edge of the building.

"Oh, wait, the staff!" Devante exclaimed as he ran over to grab it, as soon as he lifted it from its resting place, a bright flash filled the sky, and blinded my night vision.

I couldn't see, but my imagination told me what happened, Devante had just been struck by natural lightning, while holding a conductive rod, and he had his guard down. My screams were drowned out by the thunder. I ran over to my friend, who I saw on the ground, unmoving as my sight returned. As I shook him, he didn't respond.

"Robert, return the artifact, get our pay, and meet me back at our pick up zone!" I yelled frantically. "I'm getting Devante to the ship now, he's really hurt!" I hoisted up my hopefully unconscious friend onto my back, and took off. I pressed a button on my cuff, signally transport to meet me at the designated spot.

_Live damnit…_ Tears stung my eyes. My chest was clenched, my mind raced to places it shouldn't. _Don't even think about dying on me you bastard!_

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I quickly ran to the curator, who took the staff with gratitude, and presented me with $4,500. I immediately darted out of the building, only leaving behind my card. Awaken Merc – Robert.

I ran faster than I ever did before. I couldn't even grasp the idea of losing someone else… Not now, not of the first damned mission! I ran until my lungs burned, my calves ached, and my body begged for mercy. I climbed the final building in my way, the hospital.

On top was the hover pad we had arranged for pickup prior to the mission, on top of it was our hovermech, and there was Mike, helping Devante onto a stretcher alongside Tyson. "How the hell did you manage to fuck up your first assignment?"

"Shut your Goddamn trap, and help your fellow member!" Tyson raged back. His helmet was off, and his tears were evident on his face. He's usually so resolved, so calm. When he's in hysterics like this, it scares me more than anything. "Robert, Mike and I are going to sustain Devante!" The brown haired boy called out to me. "Get this thing in the air, and back to base!"

I only nodded, and entered the cockpit. Mike soon came in too, and gave me the 'ok' to fire up the engines. Within minutes, we were in the air, and going as fast as the thing could fly. _The last thing I need is for my friends to die, when I have to choose between them, and the Renegades…_

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During the ride home, several times, Devante's pulse would come and go. We constantly were reviving him with a defibrillator. His boy jumped slightly every time we tried to restart his heart. We had taken off his suit, only to discover his entire right arm, which he had grasped the artifact with was a sickening charred black. His chest looked black as well, and was much darker than his normal dark brown complexion.

His eyes were open, unmoving, his mouth was the same. _Fuck, fuck, fuck! _The only other constant thought was _Live, live, live! _Earlier, everything had gone so fast, I thought I was dreaming again. I thought I was being tested. I tried to break the illusion, but nothing happened. I was on the brink of insanity.

"Robert, does this thing go any faster?" I yelled out for the hundredth time.

"I've already told you, no!" He was irritated, and just as freaked out as I was. I liked to think of myself as a leader. But right now, I wasn't fit to be one. I was a broken man at this point. I would have sunk to my knees, and screamed out if I wasn't occupied with keeping my old friend alive.

"You goddamn idiots!" Mike yelled at us. He was noticeably concerned as well. "If you had just grabbed the thing in the first place, you wouldn't have had to go through this!"

I pounded the table hard as Devante's heart stopped again. "Damnit!" Tears continued to streak across my face.

"We're almost there!" Robert called back. Mike went to take his place, so he could land us in a secret hanger. Robert and I forcefully started his heart again. The ship landed, and we carried our immobile friend's stretcher out.

Doc and Jim were waiting for us; they immediately took Devante to the medical wing. We raced after them. When we entered the white room where they had placed Devante, we saw Michael was standing in wait.

While Doc went to work on stabilizing Devante's circulatory system, Jim prepared a serried of injections. Michael led Robert and I out of the room, and asked us about how it came to this.

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After we finished explaining, I handed Michael $1,125, 1/4th of our total income, as we were supposed to.

"Ok, so it was a natural accident, but it still could have been avoided." Michael stared coldly at us.

"We know, instead of catching our breath, we should have simply completed the mission, a moment longer, and the lightning might have activated the bomb." I said with my head hung. All this damn drama was too much for me. All I wanted was for Devante to be ok, so Tyson and I could sleep tonight.

Michael nodded, and placed a hand on each of our shoulders. "Don't worry, he'll be ok." He said after a long, awkward silence. He then walked away.

Tyson and I looked to each other, and then walked to Devante's room together. 'We can get through this, together.' That's what just looking into each other's eye's conveyed.

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We waited in his room, we ate and slept in his room, we didn't leave his room for anything short of a disaster. Three days, that's how long it was before he woke up. Three, long, stress filled days. Doc had managed to fix up his arm, but his chest was still a lot darker than normal, his lung was swelled, and had broken many blood vessels, causing a terrible bruise. But that should go away in about 2 weeks. His back was also pretty badly bruised, and he had nearly broken his spine. Our African friend was in bad shape to say the least.

"The hell happened back there?" Were the first words out of his mouth once he had come to. Robert and I practically jumped for joy at hearing his voice. We had to explain everything to him and Robert presented him with his cut of the pay. We all held our money, $1,125 each. "Wow, I haven't held money in…"

"Over a year." I finished the sentence. We always did things digitally since we lost our home. Getting out and making a living was… So different. We all felt the gravity of our lives press down on us when Devante was hospitalized.

"From now on, we have to protect each other." Robert says aloud. We all nodded in agreement. In one swift motion, we all, without hardly even thinking, placed our hands together in the center of our triangle, and swore to watch each other's backs… So we'd never have to again experience this pain.

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It wasn't long before Devante was on his feet again, only about a week. We began sociallity again, eating in the mess hall with the other members, cooking with Morgan, and we began sparring with Richard and Cory. Life became normal again for a time. No more building weapons, or recovering in the infirmary. For a while, I even forgot about the whole thing with the L.A. Renegades, until Tyson brought it up.

We were eating lunch with our normal group, Devante had lost a bet earlier in the kitchen, so he had just left the table to wash everyone's dishes, leaving Tyson, Morgan, and I free from the chore. "So man, you don't have a lot of time left to choose… What's it gonna be? You need to know in 2 and half weeks…" Tyson asked, the seriousness of the question only made the unsure tone of his voice press down on me more. Morgan, Cory, and Richard fell silent, looking to me for an answer.

"I don't know." I practically whispered. My hands shook slightly in a mix of anger and fear. I cover my face in palm, and prayed he'd just let it drop.

"You can't run away from this." His tone hardened. "You need to choose what's best for you." I heard him get out of his seat, within a moment; his hand was on my shoulder. "Think about what _you_ need, and forget about everyone else. Be selfish, and think about what makes you happy, being with your friends, or your family. Devante and I will support you no matter what you choose, so don't even give a fuck about us. The only factor in this choice, is you." He removed his hand, and walked away. Soon, Richard and Cory also left, probably to run a training session with Tyson, and Morgan came to my side.

"He's right you know." She whispered in my ear, one of her hands on my back.

"Of course he is." I dropped the hand covering my face, which was contorted in stress. "Isn't he always? The great leader Tyson, and his damn words of wisdom…" I was acting rather harshly, but the whole situation was so fucking annoying. Added on to Devante nearly died not two weeks ago, Tyson suddenly feels it's his place to regulate my life, subliminally trying to choose for me. The problem was, I couldn't figure out which side he was on. I know he wants me to stay, but most of all, he wants me to be happy, wherever he thinks I'll be happy is where he's trying to push me to.

I think I'm losing my mind. How can Tyson be influencing my situation if I can't tell where he's trying to make me go? He's a sneaky bastard, but he's smarter than to be overly vague.

"Tyson is only the leader because you let him be." Morgan continues to consult, slowly rubbing my back. "He only wants what's best for his friends… You guys are really all he has left, which is more than most of us can say, and because of that, he wants you to be happy, even if that means losing you." She removed her hand, and slowly backed away from me. "None of us can blame you if you choose your family over us; don't get me wrong though, a lot of us want you to stay."

"Tyson would still be the leader even if we opposed him. He knows how to handle almost every situation. He's not perfect, but he's the bravest bastard I've ever met." I nearly sneer. I don't even understand why I'm so pissed at him right now. My best guess was that he was right, and I simply hated him for knowing my situation better than I do. "Not only can he coordinate a ragtag group like us, but he can do it with flare, find a way to not only make us stronger than we alone could have conceived, but to raise our moral as we do it. To make us closer to him, so we can be all around better, _like him._" I slam my fist on the table. "I can outshoot him any day, but would I be able to stay calm at a time like now? Look at me! I'm goddamned mess, and he can just go around, and give advice as if I were having trouble memorizing how to build a firing mechanism for a gun! Like it was that _simple!_ Like everything is to him! I just ca-" Suddenly a pain erupted in my skull, and I heard Morgan gasp.

"Could you take 5 _seconds_, to stop badmouthing Tyson, and actually think about what he said?" I heard Devante's voice. Looking at the broken ceramics around my body, I slowly piece together what just happened.

"Break one of plates again, and I'll slit your throat in your sleep!" Morgan shouts out in a sudden burst of aggression.

"Oh please, as if you could do that better than me!" Patricia had appeared out of nowhere. Devante immediately came to my side.

"Who do you think is going to win?" He whispered as the insults went flying between the two sisters.

"At slitting your throat, or the argument?" I smirk.

"Argument."

"Morgan." I stated simply.

"I've got $50 on Patricia."

"Fine, I'll match that!" I shook his hand as Patricia and Morgan both pulled out their blades soon, the sounds of metal hitting could be heard across the base. A few members, Fredrick, Doan, Angel, and Joel all gathered and came to our table, placing bets of their own. The sparks really flew when Patricia's mask got a new scratch on it.

"You **bitch!**" She flung across the room like a cat with murderous intent.

"Angel, shouldn't you be stopping this?" Devante inquired.

"And get between those two crazed people with knives? Are you crazy? I'd rather just kick back and watch the fun. I've got $50 on the line anyway, why lose it just to protect one of their prides?" The bright woman responded.

"For a woman named Angel, you're pretty damn sadistic." I mutter. A hearty laugh went across the table.

"Robert, in this business, if you aren't sadistic, there's probably something wrong with you." She leaned on one palm, with her elbow on the table. "Besides, who's to say I'm not _corrupted_?" She winked. The question was obviously a bold statement about what she and Michael did, so I began to blush, while Devante whistled. I couldn't tell if he was gesturing at Angel, who was now laughing at my face, or Morgan, who had nearly gotten a lung punctured by her _loving_ sister.

The two wild women continued to brawl, Patricia was beginning to tire out, evident by her breath, which was amplified by the mask covering her face. She decided to gain the upper hand by kicking her sister square in the jaw, Morgan fell back onto the table, scattering everyone's money, and her medium brown hair sprawled wildly across the table. Everyone quickly scrambled to get their money back, and Morgan ducked quickly to avoid the crescent blade that nearly stabbed her eye out, which happened to land right in front of Devante, handle up. He plucked it from its lodging in the table, and tossed it back to Patricia, who muttered thanks before thrusting a stab toward her sister.

Angel, Doan, and I continued to root our favorite brunette chef on, while Fredrick and Joel cheered on the masked assassin. The two of them fought it out for another ten minutes or so before Morgan slipped in her sweat. Patricia, who had made for another stab at the exact same moment, ended up carrying herself farther than she expected, and tripped over Morgan's body on the floor. She hit the floor with a hard thud, and her weapon bounced out of reach. The chef's blue eyes gleamed as she recovered and returned to her feet. She threw her knife down centimeters before her sister's skull, and simply held out her hand for her to take.

Patricia's groan sounded throughout the room as she reluctantly took her sisters hand. The asked girl pushed Morgan away as soon as she had her footing about her again.

"Come on now Patty," Morgan feigned insult. "I hate it when you're angry at me." Morgan stared with wide eyes and had the stance of your ideal shy school girl.

"Stop calling me that already!" Patricia tipped over the money table in aggravation as she stormed out. The money again scattered, and this time, Angel, Doan and I collected it all, claiming our winnings.

"Damn it!" Devante groaned watching me pick up his crumpled betting money.

"Well, you should know better than to bet against me!" Morgan winked.

"Whatever, I'm going to bed." My black friend grumbled as he got out of his chair.

"Remember, I'll slit your throat next time you break one of my plates!" Morgan called out. Devante's gulp could be heard across the room, and everyone got a good chuckle before leaving. Again, it was just me and Morgan, sitting at the table.

"Hey, if you enjoy that, I'll fight with her more often if you stay." She assured me.

"Bribery? That's a little low, don't you think?" I tease her.

"Only of it works." The chef smiled. We joked on for another few minutes of idle chat. I told her I had to get some sleep so I could get some early morning training in, and wished her goodnight.

Walking away, I pondered again, at my options. My blood family that I never knew, or my friends that I've always known, and all these members who were just like a family in their own right. Blood was thicker than water, but some bonds are stronger than blood… But what exactly did I have?

As I approached my room after exiting the elevator, I notice a glowing orange mark on my door, when I observed it closer; it was a message from Devante, F U. Welded into the door. I knock on his door in irritation.

"You're going to fix that!" I shout to him, I heard his light laugh from within. I growled slightly as I entered my own room. I plopped onto my bed, and looked at the clock, 10:55. I lay down on my bed, and my eyes closed as soon as my head hit the pillow.

_I love you guys._

_Awaken_

(A.N.) Hope you guys liked the chapter. Sorry, but my schedual of every ten days is kinda dead. So the next chapter will out sometime next month, but it's vague as to how long till it'll be ready for release. So please hang in there! Again, reviews are apreciated as always, and as long as you have a profile, you will get a responce. And thanks to all of you who've commented on my improved writing, I'm glad I'm getting better! The story is meant for me, but aI still want it to be as enjoyable as possible for you readers who take time out of your scheduals to read this!


	6. Chapter 16, These Intertwining Bonds

Ok, so again, School fucks up everything -_- Should have fogured... So, chapters are going to be delayed. But I promise, this story will get done... Eventually. Anyway, thanks to wwhulk12 for the inspiration to finnish this chapter up today. Enjoy!

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 16, These Intertwining Bonds

_The job is too easy… Just go in, and let the whole thing blow. I set the bombs in all the right places, and the targets were all in place. They think that their so smart, selling their political power for money from the Dictation. Hell, nowadays, there's rarely a single non-corrupt politician out there… After WWIII, that bastard came in, and he took over… _

_I look to check if the coast is clear, which it was. And I set the final timer. Walking away now, I wonder if my conscious should be eating me alive for all the people I've killed… Then, a single thought banishes all of those. 'Look at what they've done… The Dictation has been able to go around destroying families, under government protection from bastards like them!' _

_Knowing the exact timing of all of my explosives, I smile briefly. "Goodbye, boys. Better luck in your next life." As I hop onto my Soarer, I feel the explosions ripple through the Earth beneath me. As I lifted the single seating vehicle from the ground, I send out my Com-Link Transmission. _

_"This is Michael, progress report?" The dark voice asked._

_"Mercenary Carol speaking, mission completed, en route to the complex." I reply as the acceleration in my sleek black flying device carried me through the sky. _

_"Very good," There was a pause on the line… "Glad that you're safe." His tone lightened considerably. I smiled at his rare showing of concern, beneath all of his mysterious persona; he was still the same great friend he always was._

_"As always, Michael. Carol, out." I end the line, and speed up… Mike was probably getting worried._

Another job… Just when we felt as if we could get comfortable again, Michael had to give us another job… We walked to his office; the brightly lit halls were empty, as they should be at four in the morning. The only sound throughout the walk was the sound of our uniform boots stamping on the tile. To tell the truth, we were tired as fuck, every day, we trained to our limits so that nothing could tear us apart again.

As we entered the door, we saw him as he always was, staring at the large screen behind his desk, looking over the world's statistics… Robert coughed to announce our arrival, and the dark man before us turned to acknowledge us.

"Ah, sorry about the early start, but you've got missions today." His somber tone informed us. I cocked a brow, not that he could see it beneath my helmet.

"Missions?" I asked, putting an emphasis on the plural.

"Yes, Tyson. **Missions.**" He said slightly more irritated. "You each have separate missions to do."

"Wait, separate?" Devante asked, alarmed. I could see where it was coming from, so far, everything we've done, we've done as a team… A unit of soldiers, exactly coordinated in a way only people who were around each other 24/7 for years could be.

"Yes, Tyson and Devante, you each have solo missions, and Robert, you'll be going with Angel." He spoke with almost regal in his leadership position. Devante nudged Robert.

"Have fun with _that_ job buddy." Devante snickered, and Michael shot him a death glare. "Oh, right, Angel's _your_ girl, huh?" He backed off sheepishly. Michael tossed us our written orders and told Robert to go seek Angel.

"You two remember how to work Soarer's?" Michael asked.

"You kidding?" I ask.

"That was only the greatest part of boot camp!" Devante piped in, and we remembered all the tricks we managed to pull off with those things in the air… We almost crashed them once or twice, but we were as good as anyone else on the gray team.

"Good." He tossed us two key cards, which had numbers on them. "Pick your ride and get moving." He turned over to some other paper work. Devante and I grasped at out cards, and looking from them, to each other, we could see the obvious smirks behind our helms. As we exited Michael's office, we immediately began chuckling.

"I've got 13!" I cheered. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the beautiful ticket of freedom.

"Mine's 30!" Devante replied with equal glee. As we entered the docking hangar, we searched for among the series of sleek, black Soarers. Coming upon mine, I gasped at its perfectness, the smooth shape, the leather interior, and the impressive dashboard.

'It's perfect!" I chirped… I had never owned a vehicle before, and knowing that this was mine, gave me a feeling of pride and responsibility unlike anything I'd had before. Hearing the rev of an engine, I looked to see the 30th Soarer lift from the ground.

'Yeah baby!" He called out in joy. I turned on my transmitter to his helm.

"You'll want to read your orders first, genius… Don't just take off to a random place."

"Yeah, yeah…" His voice cracked back, and he soon landed his ride.

I opened my envelope, and read my orders carefully.

_Travel to Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. There, at the Feijoada hotel, you will meet the client, Dhal at 7pm. Until that time, you should survey your surroundings, and look for good vantage points. Once you arrive for to meet Dahl, he will explain in detail about a serial killer running amuck in the town. Your target is the killer, who goes by Stefan Bloods. Find him, and bring justice to his victims. Collect your pay from Dahl when the job is done. Return home safely._

I smile at the last part… And begin to check my equipment, especially my sword. _No serial killer is going to take me out… _After confirming I had everything I needed, I boarded my 13th Soarer, and lifted off the ground, as I began to leave the hangar, I noticed Devante frowning, still reading his directions. I punched the coordinates into my Soarers autopilot system, and took off, enjoying the feeling of wind in my hair, as I remove my helm, and place it securely in the small storage compartment of the vehicle.

_So… Let's see how I do on solo jobs…_ I think as I feel the air around me rush past and my adrenaline begins to pump with excitement of being in open air. _You guys, I know you'll make me proud. _I smirk at the thought. _So… How far away is Brazil?_

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After 4 hours of flight, I finally arrived in my destination… I lowered my altitude, and found a deserted building to land my ride on top of. I turned the machine of, and placed my key card securely in my pocket. I turned in the direction of the hotel, and activated my Com-Link's GPS, and found out all the routes there.

I immediately began to walk around alleys, and as I explored the backstreets, I found a bum, passed out, likely drunk, gauging by his half empty bottle of an unnamed alcohol. I took his coat, and pants from him, and tucked $150 dollars in his and. I put on the newly acquired disguise, and took off to a shopping center so I could get some more modern clothing, and probably give that guy his soiled clothing back.

I got some dirty look from shoppers, but I could care less. I bought a familiar outfit, a white button up shirt with flames on it, a black tank top, dark khaki's, and a pair of black tennis shoes. I could care less about the cost; I would be fully reimbursed, plus some when I got my pay.

I went to a dark alley to change, and walked back to where I found the bum, only to find him awake, grasping his head for dear life, and looking awfully confused as to why he had no pants. I balled up his clothing, and threw the items to him, and took off in my street clothes, now free to walk the streets without arousing attention.

I appeared to be in a bad part of town, the walls were covered in graffiti art, and the windows were all barred closed. Shady looking characters stood on the street corners, and the people were cold and uncaring. No one bothered to give me a second look, I was unimportant.

Looking around, there were many abandoned buildings and deserted alleys… Perfect for stashing a body. Every building was about 3 or more stories tall, but it was unlikely anyone here owned all the stories within their houses. The roofs were high enough to scout from, without being noticed by the target. This place was perfect.

With still 9 more hours before I was to meet Dahl, I returned to the place where I had landed my Soarer. I took a few weapons out of their places where they could be stored on the vehicle. After collecting all I had anticipated needing, I turned around, crouched, and broke out in a dead sprint.

As I approached the edge of the roof, I took a large leap. I sailed through the air briefly before I finally came over the roof of the next building; I landed and continued my run. _Time to set my traps…_

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Finally, the time was approaching. I opened my com link, and followed the built in GPS direction to the meeting spot. He was easy to see, he stood on the corner with a long coat on, and a cigar in his mouth. He tucked his head in as if to be less noticeable, but it only made him more obvious.

I had removed my street clothes, and had put my helmet back on. From my vantage point of a nearby roof, I gazed out to my surroundings… There were witnesses about, so my only option was to roof jump again. As I crossed the rooftops, and drew closer to the Feijoada, I noticed a large crevice in the wall of the hotel, where I would be able to interrogate Dahl without being noticed. There was only one problem… I looked like a crazed man who thought it was Halloween, and the building was across the street, the pedestrian filled street… I had to think of something before Dahl decided that I wasn't going to show…

I pulled out my revolver, and aimed for a streetlamp in the parking lot of the Feijoada. The silencer on the gun hid the sound of the blast, but the glass of the lamp shattered, causing people around to panic, and run either to or away from the parking lot. No one was paying attention to the street that I needed to cross, so I jolted by noticing that Dahl was also running away, right toward where I was going. I quickly grasped his arm as we nearly collided and pulled him into the crevice.

"Get off me you ba-" He began in a heavy accent, only the 'A' on my uniform representing Awaken. "Ah, you must be Tyson, no?" He asked.

"At your service, sir." I responded. "Now, tell me all you know about the target."

He began to list off some his characteristics in detail. Tall, dark haired; his left cheek had a large scar on it. Stephan and Bloods was tattooed to his left and right arm respectively. He mostly kept to the shadows, and only struck out victims at exactly midnight. Each time, he'd assault the victim, sometime's rape them, and when finished, would carve out their hearts, leaving a large hole straight through the corpse.

"Thanks for the details," I say almost emotionlessly. On the inside, my personal hatred of rapists burned. "Do you know where he might be?" I asked.

"He was last sighted by an old abandoned warehouse downtown on Kerrigan Street. I smiled beneath my helmet… That was exactly the area I had been setting up traps. Perhaps it wouldn't be too hard to get this guy after all.

"Thank you Dahl. I will meet you here again at 6 in the morning, by then, he'll be dead, and the body will have been disposed of." I promised. I began to wall hop the crevice, which led all the way up to the roof. I bounded up and flipped, landing on my feet atop the structure. Looking in the direction where Dahl had informed me he was last sighted, I crouch. Then, I quickly break into a full sprint, and leapt from the building, gliding through the air to the roof of the next one. I jumped from roof to roof, gaining speed as I went. Once the target building came into sight, I skidded to a halt, and stopped to catch my breath. He strikes at midnight, so I have to get to him before then, but first, I'd have to find him.

Looking to the sky, the sun was almost completely set. I turned on my night vision, and zoomed in to see if I could spot him in any of the windows. As I skimmed, I saw nothing… "Damn." And here I had just begun to hope things would be easy. Now that night was approaching, the people became scarce, obviously aware that this area was dangerous.

Once I had confirmed no one was near, I dropped from my position, and hit the concrete with a heavy thud. I was surprised at how much punishment my body could take now that I had been chemically enhanced. I got up from a good 50 meter drop, and didn't so much as even brush myself off. It was about 8 now, so I had 4 hours if I was going to catch this guy before midnight.

I walked right up to the padlocked doors and almost chuckled. Like that was going to stop anyone, I walked off about 5meters and found a broken window, and crawled into the warehouse. Looking about, the inside was utterly trashed. It looked like a full blown hurricane had hit the building.

I began to walk up the stairs. I took time thoroughly searching each floor for where he might be hiding, or for a hint to where he had gone too… About an hour was spent on each floor of the 5 storey building. The more floors I went up, the more evident that a killer was near. The blood on the walls got fresher and fresher. What had initially looked like a chipped paint job had actually been blood stains all over the walls. And by the time I had reached the top floor, it was still wet, I was beginning g to panic, I had 5 minutes until midnight… If I didn't catch this guy at the top, I might fail the mission. The top appeared to be occupied, but no one was there. On the floor, was a torn up mattress, a lamp, several food rappers and water bottles. But that wasn't what I was focused on… In a pile in the corner, was an abundance of hearts… presumably human hearts. This was undeniably Bloods' hideout. And these were most likely the cause of the blood splattered walls. Above the pile was a large red painting, a large red heart, with a picture that matched Dahl's description of Stephan in the center, with a warm inviting smile on his face. I wanted to puke, but I was too busy focusing on my pure anger.

"What a sick, demented fuck." I whisper to myself.

"You called assassin?" Came a deep voice from behind. I spun on a heel; ad saw Stephan sitting on the stair rail. "I saw you come into my building, I had to make sure you weren't going to disturb my collection.

"Ya know, Bloods, it's not very smart to give away your position, especially to the man who's hunting you." I nearly sigh with relief. "What, not going out for a kill tonight?"

"As if I give a damn if you know where I am, You can't kill me, no one can. And isn't it obvious? You are my kill tonight… I hope you have a nice plump heart to add to my collection." He smiled sinisterly.

"Oh great, I'm dealing with a psychopath that thinks he's immortal." I droop my head in slight disappointment.

"I don't think, I know." His grin widened.

"Yeah, yeah." I say as I pull out my gun. "And there's no way you're getting my heart. I need to do some things before I die. So you're SOL on this one Stephan." I turned off the safety.

"Oh, I'm so frightened… I think I'm shivering." He taunted. I pulled the trigger, and bullet sailed straight for his torso. I could see the impact it had on him, but then he straightened out, and smiled. "See? I'm immortal." I connected the dots rather quickly.

"A bulletproof vest doesn't make you immortal." I pulled out my sword, and got into a combat position.

"No, eating hearts makes you immortal…" He stated in a matter of fact fashion. That time, I came about a hair from puking.

"I'm through talking with you freak." I say flatly, and charged him. He simply sidestepped me, and I nearly ran into the wall. I quickly brought my feet up, and kicked the wall, flipping myself over, and leaving a gaping hole in the structure. _What a flimsy building…_

"Hey now, you just damaged my wall, I'm getting upset." He took out a large jagged knife. "You don't want me to get upset…"

"I. Do. Not. Give. A. Single. **Fuck.**" I slashed at him, only for him to dodge and lunge for me. I ducked, and when his torso was directly over me, I got back up; throwing him off of me and into the wall I had left a hole in. The wall cracked, and he nearly fell through. Stephan then got up again, and returned to his fighting stance.

"I thought I told you not to get me upset?" He seethed.

"I recall telling you that I just didn't give a fuck…" I replied with a half yawn.

"Now, you'll have to die…" He said with what was supposed to be intimidation.

"You really think so?" I pressed a button on my cuff, and one of the explosive traps I had set up went off. This one happened to be right on the other side of the wall behind him. He was sent flying toward me, and I caught him with a right hook. The force of flying at me, matched with my fist colliding with his skull caused a sickening crack as I felt his cranium fracture. He hit the floor, and began coughing up blood. It was unlikely he would live more than 5 minutes… "What's this? Aren't you immortal, Bloods?" He crawled away at a slow pace.

"I… Need more… Hearts…" He gasped as the blood pouring from what used to be a nose slickened the floor beneath him. He slipped several times and finally, got right where I wanted him. I pressed another button, and a turret I'd set up on the building across from us activated. I aimed it to look through the window, and fired. The bullets accuracy was slightly off, and hit him in his shoulder. He collapsed with a growl of pain. I walked over to him as he reached a hand out to the pile of hearts, still half the room away.

"So long, demon." I whisper. He turned around, and I caught a good look at his now severely disfigured face.

"Who's the demon here?" He coughed up more blood; slurring his words now that he had lost at least half of his teeth.

"Maybe it's you, maybe it's me. But either way, you die here." I raise my sword, and bring the tip down in a harsh stab, right through his neck. The sheer width of the sword also caused for most of his head to be split, along with part of his back. His ragged breath became more and more labored, before finally stopping all together as death took him over. I went, and crawled through the hole the explosion had left. Authorities would be coming soon; I had to do this next part quickly. I hopped to the next building over, and began searching.

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I finally heard the sirens of police coming. I had just collected all of the bombs I had planted throughout the neighborhood. I then returned to the building, and placed one on each key portion of the structure. Soon, I heard the door of the building being broken into. I exited the building, and hit the delayed reaction explosive timer. Surely, the beeping of explosives would alert the officers before the building went off. I had begun racing across the city, far away from the site. After 3 minutes, I looked back, just in time to watch the midsection of the building explode. The upper half then collapsed, I hadn't intended for the explosion to destroy the lower floor, instead, the upper half flattened, and the lower part, no longer able to support the wreckage, allowed the building to collapse into the deserted apartments behind it. The fragile old warehouse practically turned to dust after crashing against the stronger brick building.

I continued to run toward the crevice. It was coming up on 1:30 am now… I hadn't realized how much time it took to cross town, an hour from the hotel to the warehouse on foot… Even with my speed. This city sure was big… Someday, I'd have to actually take time to enjoy a day in the city… Maybe when I don't a mission, I could get Robert and Devante to come with me, and we'll just have a night on the town.

I turned into the crevice, and took a seat. I began to catch my breath again… I was really in shape, but an hour of running still takes a lot out of me. I began to rest… and then, I started to doze off…

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"Tyson… Tyson!" I was shaken awake from some pleasant dream or other. I looked through hazy eyes to see Dahl.

"Is it really 6 already?" I asked, looking out to the dark sky.

"No, it's still about 2:30 am, I saw on the news that Stephan's hideout had been destroyed by explosives, and I rushed here to see if you'd be here… It looked as if you'd made a suicide attempt!"

"Dahl, don't hire mercenaries if you care about their lives." I say flatly. "Did you bring my pay?"

"Yes, yes mister Tyson! I have brought the money!" He said hurriedly. "Here you go!" He handed me an envelope from within his coat. I opened it and counted $35,000.

"Whoa, Dahl, I think you may have miscounted." I said. The job wasn't that difficult.

"Ah, I'm sorry! I'll get more right away!" He gasped in apology.

"More? You gave 35 grand for a simple execution!" I exclaimed.

"Please accept it, my daughter, she lives in that neighborhood, you just saved her life! I'm indebted to you!"

"If you say so sir." I respond in half shock. "I'll be going now, stay safe, and if you ever need me again…" I handed him my card as I walked out of the crevice, and began to trek back to my Soarer.

'_Awaken Mercenary, Tyson'_

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Approaching my Soarer, I notice a figure standing by it, rummaging through my storage compartments. I immediately unsheathe my sword and charge at him. His face turned to me for a brief moment, in fear, absolute fear as my sword was buried to its hilt in his chest. As his body slumped to the ground, I notice he's the bum whose pants I had take earlier.

_Who's the demon here?_

"Maybe it's me after all." I shrug as I remove my helm and store it into the compartment, and check to make sure all of its contents remained where they were left at. I take off leaving the dead body where it lay. "Don't fuck with my ride." I mutter as I take off.

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I had finally returned to base just when exhaustion was taking me over… I landed in the hangar, only to see Jim run out and refuel my Soarer. "Jim, what's the rush?" I ask.

"You've got a Michael said as soon as you got in to refuel you so you get going to your next mission! Go to his office, give him his bit of the pay, and get your next mission!" Jim seemed really in a hurry to get this done. "I'm getting my first mission today!" He said excitedly.

"G-good for you." I said. Damn, not even half a day to rest... I walked to Michael's office, only to see Devante and Robert already there.

"Damn… You guys too?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah… Us too." Robert said gloomily… "I'm so fucking exhausted."

_Why does Michael have to be a dick today?_

Awaken

So, another chapter down. The next two chapters will focus on what Robert and Devante's missions were. Untill then, see ya! Remember to let me know what you like and dislike in a review!


	7. Chapter 17, Forging Bonds

A.N. Mannaged another chapter! This one focuses on Devante's mission, while Tyson was in Brazil. Enjoy!

Awaken Book of Bonds

Chapter 17, Forging Bonds

_What a way to go… Looking at what used to be my target, I feel a twinge of sadness for the poor man… A revolutionary who wished to overthrow his town's leader. The target was a man desperate to be heard, to the extent he would throw away not only his life, but all the lives of those around him. He's been reduced to a smoking pile now… My mission wasn't to kill him, but he refused to remove himself from presence… he stood right in my line of fire, is it really my fault that he wouldn't listen? I had to shoot through him to get to the target, who was is in the same condition… _

_Why can't one just appreciate life? Why must humans challenge their existence with fighting? It's so illogical. I just walk away, and forget both of the men. Leaving behind only the card I'm instructed to. DWMA-3- Awaken Mercenary._

4 in the morning, 4 in the goddamned morning… Michael is the biggest damn jackass for making me get up this early for a mission; I figured those days were over when Tyson stopped making us train in the middle of the night. With every step of our boots, a loud thunk could be heard, that made my brain pound as if I had a hangover… Which I might admittedly actually have… Morgan and I had had a few drinks last night.

Once we entered his office, he was wide fucking awaking, reviewing his work… God I hate him… Robert cleared his throat to get him to notice us. "Hmm?" He turned to us. "Ah, sorry for the early start, but you've got missions today"

"Missions?" Tyson questioned, dragging out the last 's'. Just then, my heart sank… More than one mission, just damn fantastic.

"Yes, Tyson, **missions**." Michael confirmed slightly angry… My moral only fell even more. "You each have a separate mission today." I practically collapsed in sudden exhaustion… I couldn't even rely on those two to do all the work?

"Wait, separate?" I asked in exasperation to be sure… I really just wanted to sleep today._  
><em>

"Yes, Tyson and Devante, you each have solo missions, and Robert, you'll be going with Angel." He said in kind of a stuck up way… He seemed to get like this when he gave orders. I nudged my friend for his stroke of luck.

"Have fun with _that_ job, buddy!" I snickered as Robert shot me a death glare. Then, Michael shot me a death glare. "Oh, Angel is _your_ girl, huh?" I try to keep my mouth shut before my very agitated boss decides to kill me. Michael then gave Tyson and I our orders, and sent Robert off to find Angel. "You two remember how to work Soarers?" He questioned.

"You kidding?" Tyson smirked, I could hear it in his voice.

"That was only the best part of boot camp!" I exclaimed. I couldn't help but think back to when Tyson and I were doing tricks with those wonderful machines, we almost killed ourselves and wrecked the things, but we were just as good, if not better, than everyone else who was on the grey team.

"Good." He tossed us two key cards, which had numbers on them. "Pick your ride and get moving." He then turned away, and left us to the greatest give ever, our own rides. Tyson eye shifted our gazes from our keys to each other, and we could both see the huge smirk on each other's faces, helmet or not, they were obviously there. As soon as we were out of Michael's office, we were both chuckling with glee.

"I've got 13!" my friend shouted out.

"Mine's 30!" I matched his excited tone. As we entered the docking hangar, we searched for among the series of sleek, black Soarers. Coming upon mine, I gasped at its perfectness, the smooth shape, the leather interior, and the impressive dashboard.

Immediately, I jump right in and kick it into ignition. I felt the wondrous thing send me off of the ground, "Yeah baby!" I cheered at the feeling of piloting myself again. I was hovering in place, in perfect position to take off, when…

"You'll want to read your orders first, genius… Don't just take off to a random place." Tyson's voice transmitted to my helm… It's like all the positivity in body was sucked straight out of me.

"Yeah yeah…" I reply groggily as the fatigue hits me again, and the hangover hit's my skull again like a sledge hammer. I open my orders and read them carefully.

_Devante, travel to Pleiku Vietnam, there, seek out Turin Vuong, he will inform you of your duty to replace him in a fight. You must defeat his opponent, and give to him his prize money, he will then pay you, and you may return home. Don't get yourself hurt this time._

Jackass… I punch the coordinates in, and set my directions on fire. I didn't care to see them again. As the paper burned, I noticed something, my blazing orange fire… Was hot. It's never been hot before to me, it's impossible to burned by your own fire… And yet, it was! I could feel my skin burn away, I tried to retract the fire, but it expanded further and further and I couldn't scream, I couldn't breath. I was burning and burning and the pain was so excruciating… I thought of setting my other arm on fire to speed the process along… And it looked like I had no choice but to-

"Get up and move already!" I woke with a start at Angel's scream as her and Robert took off to god knows where in her Burst Drive. The directions were still in my hand, completely unburned. _I am NEVER, drinking before a mission again._ I think as I punch in the coordinates again, and take off.

Within 10 minutes, the Soarer was on auto pilot, and I was drifting back off to sleep…

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I awoke again to yelling, but this time, it was locals… I was in Vietnam, and my ride was about to crash into some sort of market… "Fucking hell…" I take the machine out of auto pilot and pull up, taking it out to a more deserted area… I found a large field, and I landed. I collected a series of branches and leaves around and hid the Soarer… "Today, officially sucks." I walk around in broad daylight, unaware that I'm still in my uniform…

I head off, looking for what's his name… I just walk around the city aimlessly for a bit before remembering the name Vuong. I ask around for the family name, and soon find myself downtown in some apartments which he supposedly lives in… room 5 A is what I had been told. I knock on the door, and wait. After a moment, a small man appeared, dropping the knife he had in hand noticing the A on my uniform… _Wait, had I really been walking around like this? Shit… I'm in trouble when I get back to base…_

"You? You here to help me?" He asked in broken English.

"Are you Mr. Vuong?" I reply.

"Turin Vuong, I am Turin Vuong!" I said anxiously, pulling on my arm to bring me inside.

I sat down on the seat he provided. "I need help." He stated. "You help me?"

"That's my job, isn't it?" I replied.

"Yes! Good, good." He smiled. "You fight for me, yes? You win, you get money, then leave?" I nod at to him. "Good, good. Man come after me, Nyl Darren, he want blood. You stop him, and take money. He bring fighter, strong man, Creature… Creature kill, Creature stab. You be careful." He informed me as he handed me directions to the fight scene.

What the hell am I getting into here?

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I arrived at the city square, a place known for fights and races, and tonight, people were gathered prepared to witness a brutal fight, possibly to the death. And who knows? Maybe it will be… I'm not exactly a happy guy right now…

Once I approached the center of the square, two men were waiting for me. "Hey, this is the fight area, if you want to live man, you'll leave."

"Sorry, Turin couldn't make it, but I assured him I'd get his money from you…" I state calmly.

"Oh? So Turin managed to afford a fighter then?" The other man asked, based on the mask he wore, I assumed he was Creature.

"A fighter? No, he managed to get his hands on a weapon." I smirked. The 1st man, apparently Nyl, scowled at me. Very well then, we begin in 20 minnutes, pray for your life, scum." He sneered. His raven hair bounced as he turned and walked away. Creature just stood there, looking at me. His mask was that of a blue devil. It had sharp fangs, and small horns… The mask amplified his breathing, making him sound more threatening than he really was… Probably. He was about my height, and a head taller than Nyl I held out my hand, and exerted a massive blue flame, that made the crowd jump back in fear. Creature just stood there, but had a hand in front of his eyes to block out the scorching light. At his reaction, I turned, and walked to the back of the crowd. Turin was there watching…

"Big fire, you made it?" He asked in awe. I nod. "You be very careful! Creature uses Blue fire, and sometimes ice! He very strong, he freeze then stab! You can't let him freeze you!" He rushes his voice.

"I get it, I won't let him touch me." I sigh. He nodded, then ushered me back to the center, Creature was still there, growling at the sight of Turin.

"There you are, coward!" He seethed.

"You leave me alone! My fighter will destroy you!" Turin shouted back, then let out a stream of Vietnamese that I could only imagine what he was saying, Creature responded in Vietnamese as well, and I tuned them out as Nyl walked up to us.

"Looks like you just can't wait to get started, can you?" Thou I wasn't sure if he was speaking to me or Creature, either way, he was right… I just wanted to get the hell out of here so I could go back to sleep.

"Alright, winner gets $1,000,000, as agreed." Turin stated, if I wasn't wearing my helm, my jaw would have hit the concrete. No wonder this guy went all out to get mercenaries… With the apartment he had, there's no way he has a mil stashed away. And if he won, he'd have a good deal of money, minus what he'll have to pay me.

"Right, and that money better be ready to hand over to me when this fight ends." Nyl growled…

"Don't underestimate me." I warn slowly.

Nyl and Turin left to opposite ends of the crowd, front row. Creature bowed before drawing out a knife, which was holstered on his lower back. I draw my elemental rune blades… and take a fighting stance.

"Come at me!" Creature roared.

"Do ya dare me to?" I taunt. He nodded. I sprint to him, and extract some powerful lightning from my body. _Today, I think I might get my lightning up to the next level…_ The lightning flowed into my blades, and I slashed out to Creature, he dodged and attempted to stab me. I made a quick combat role, and turned to face my opponent.

He seemed stunned that I had moved so quickly. "Keep your guard up!" I shouted out as I caused a large blue pillar of flame to appear behind him. He was forced to jump towards me, just as I had planned, and I took the opportunity to stab him in the abdomen with a lightning charged blade. He coughed up blood, and stepped back.

"I told you to keep your guard up…" I shrugged.

"You… Bastard." He coughed again as his body became rigged with spasms from the electrical charge currently surging through his circulatory system. Nyl was screaming in Vietnamese, and Turin was cheering. "I'll have to pick up my game now…" He straightened himself, and began to shoot out ice shards at me, I engulfed myself in flame, and watched the ice melt before it even hit.

"You're gonna have to better than that, dude." I call out. I extinguish myself, only to notice that Creature is gone… "Where the…" Suddenly, I felt an unwelcome chill, and I knew that my back was being frozen.

"Game over, punk." He whispered in my ear as the rest of my body froze over. I simply smirked. He brought the knife down just as I released another burst of flame to thaw myself. The knife lodged in, and creature flew back from the blast of fire that resulted. I had completely rid myself of his ice.

"Oh, did you forget that fire melts ice?" I ask as I pull the knife from its resting place.

"H-how can you still be standing?" He asked. "I stabbed you in the spine!" I twirled the knife in my hands a few times, and then I threw it, the blade stabbing straight into his thigh. He gasped in pain, and fell over as he tried to stand. I stood over him now.

"Armored clothing, jackass. You gonna give in now, or what?" I ask him.

"Creature never gives in!" He spat back.

"Alright then." I summoned up a bright blue flame to my hand, and allowed it to grow in intensity. "You sure?" I asked. He glared at me, I think… And nodded, though with hesitation and doubt in his body language. "Whatever you say then." I released the powerful burst of fire, sending straight down to his face.

He began to roll and scream in pain as the fire engulfed his head, melting his plastic mask to his face. Once the damage was done, I extinguished the flame. "Never forget, Devante's gift to you, is life." I noticed the knife lodged in his leg, and the gold inscribed ebony holster still strapped to his lower back. "I win, and I claim your weapon." I say as I take them both, and strap them to my person.

I turned to Nyl, who stood in disbelief. "$1,000,000 is the bet. Where's the reward?" I asked him. He turned and began to run. I quickly released a bolt of lightning in the air, and I couldn't help but notice the brilliant blue that it was instead of the usual yellow. _Lightning level 2, achieved. _"I wouldn't run if I were you!" I called out. He stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees. He began to weep. I walked to him, and people scampered to stay out of my way.

I grabbed him by his suit's collar. "Where is Turin's money?" I growled dangerously. He pointed a shaky finger to a vehicle nearby. I dragged him along with me. When the driver spotted me, he kicked the ride into ignition, I used the suits built in gun to shoot out his hover mechanism, and the machine fell back to the floor. He quickly threw a metal case towards me and took off running. I opened the case to see stacks and stacks of money. "You're staying with me until it's verified that all the money is there. I walked Nyl and the money back to Turin, and he began counting.

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It was all there, every damn bill. I had never seen a solid million in my life, and I was damn envious of that Turin right now… "Alright Nyl, scram before I change my mind." I released the man and he took off in full sprint. "Turin, you can just give me my pay, and I'll leave." I informed him. He looked up at me with wide eyes… Eyes full of fear, but that was understandable.

"Yes, yes, you take money, then go?" He asked anxiously. I nodded, and he began to count out a few stacks. "$44,500 , yes?" He asked as he handed the money to me. I looked with shock at the money… That was almost ten times what we had been paid back at the lightning incident… And this time I was alone… _Did that punk ass curator cheat us out of money, or is this one very thankful and gracious Asian?_

"G-good, thank you." I stutter like an idiot.

"No more? $44,500 good number?" He asked again

"Yes, a very good number, thank you!" I say to him as I turned and began to head back to my Soarer.

"Wait! I see you again?" Turin called after me... _Shit, I forgot._ I turned to him, and tossed my card in his direction _Awaken Merc- Devante_

"Only if you have the job and the money." I say, and turn again. I enter the field again, and find my ride just as I left it, covered in branches. _It's going to be a long ride home._ My head begins to ache **again. **_Time to sleep… I might never drink again if this keeps happening… _I punch in the coordinates for home, and take off. "There's no way Tyson and Robert earned as much as I did!"

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I awoke to a loud **Crack!** And I realized I was in the middle of a thunder storm… And where there's thunder, there must be lightning. And when there's lightning, the last place you want to be is a flying pod made out of _metal_. "Shit, shit, shit." I begin to make the Soarer fly higher… "I _hate _auto pilot_!"_

I rise higher and higher. And then I see it… Directly on top of me, the split second of rising electrical current in the sky. "Fuck. My. Life." I stick my arm outside of the vehicle, and focus everything I've got into creating a level two lightning to counteract the oncoming bolt. "Come on… Come on." The surge in the sky was coming faster than that of the one in my arm. "**COME ON!**" I released the bolt, right as the lightning stuck, narrowly redirecting the electric flow away from me, allowing me to get above the clouds, and away from danger. _Thank God I'm alive… Thank God, thank God, thank fucking God._ That's the SECOND time lightning has tried to kill me in my life.

"I check my current position to see how far away from home I am. _240 meters away from base? Aw shit._ I have to dive down again… I'm definitely not happy about that. I lower myself, _exactly_, where I didn't want to, in the middle of an electric surge… As the current drained the life of my Soarer, the systems failed, everything I touched damn shocked me, and the only thing going for me was I was on the correct course to base.

"I hate lightning… I hate is **so **much." I'm descending much faster than is safe for me… As I fall, base comes into clear view… I can see the hangar open up, expecting my arrival, and landing… "Surprise guys…" I mutter. "Looks like I'm making a _crash_ landing." Just as it leaves my lips, the tail end of my vehicle catches fire, making my situation only _that _much more exciting.

The hangar is only a few meters away now, and I can definitely see a figure standing at the entrance. "Move! Run! I'm going to crash you nimrod!" I yelled to whoever it was… The figure just stood there. _Aw shit._ I pulled the controls upward, but to little avail, as the Soarer barely turned. But just enough so that the Soarer wouldn't kill whoever was bright enough to stand there.

The Machine went right over their head, and I bailed out as it continued right into a hovermech, and then off into the wall. Leaving a hefty dent on both, and leaving the Soarer completely totaled. Jim came running to my side.

"What the hell man? You almost got us killed!" He screamed in my ear… Err, helmet.

"What the hell yourself!" I screech back as I stand up. "What are you doing standing in the middle of the hangar while I'm crashing?"

"I'm just supposed to be grabbing you and telling you that you have another mission!" He yelled back.

And the world stopped turning for a second. "What?" I ask.

"You have another mission to go on!" He clarified.

And then I snapped… Fire erupted from my body sporadically. "I swear, if you're not joking, I'll kill Michael."

"And there, you crossed the line!" He yelled at me while shielding his eyes from my fire engulfed frame… Next thing I know, he sticks a syringe in me… And everything goes dark…

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I woke in a daze… I think… I see Tyson talking to Robert… "Yeah… Us too." Robert muttered. "I'm so fucking exhausted.

_Tell me about it_. I try to say, but find that I can't… _Jim, after I kill Michael, I'm coming after you…_ And I fade back into darkness.

Awaken

A.N. Hey, hope you all enjoyed, let me know what you think in a review! The next chapter will be about Robert and Angel. Untill next time.


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